Royal Screw Ups
by yugiohfan163
Summary: After feeling the guilt of what she's done, PB goes back in time to give her past self something to help her fix the stuff she's done.
1. Chapter 1

Royal screw ups

chapter 1

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We find ourselves late at night and at the Candy Kingdom where the inhabitants were all asleep. All but one.

Their great matriarch Princess Bonnibel Bubblegum was at her work desk. Over the past few months she had been having trouble sleeping. Mostly because she was plagued by horrible nightmares.

She wiped her head of sweat and tried focusing on her next invention, but all she could think about were the images she had seen. The victims of her past mistake, the people she could never save, they haunted her. Whenever she'd tried to run they'd chase after her and alway catch her.

"Gah!" she groaned pushing her supplies off while holding her head. "This is so globbed up! I can't worry about that, I need to focus on the here and now." she tried to ignore it, but after looking at her reflection she saw the bags under her eyes from the days she had gone without sleep.

"Man, I'm really donked up." she remarked standing up and walking to her bed. "I gotta try and get some rest. Even if I have to deal with that stuff." she said as she turned to the door and headed for her room. She looked at the ground as she entered her room and didn't bother taking her coat off before plopping on the bed face first. "Just...a little *yawn* sleep."

Slowly she shut her eyes and tried relaxing her tired muscles as she felt her body get lighter and opened her eyes to see she was laying in the middle of a dark void which is where she constantly found herself. She was now in her usual out fit as she sat up. "Oh no." suddenly a pink mass appeared and towered over her. She looked up and saw her brother Neddy looking down at her while looking scared. He let out a loud cry and raised his fists before bringing them down in an attempt to crush her.

PB jumped to the side as the void shook and looked at Neddy. "Neddy stop! It's me Bubblegum!"

He cried louder as he swung and flailed wildly.

Bubblegum got up and tried making several popping sounds with her mouth to try and calm him, but he kept thrashing about and saw the candy juice leak out of him and started filling the void with it slowly starting to rise. It was then something shot out from the juice and landed in front of her. That something was Rattleballs.

"Why princess?" he said raising his sword to her. "Why did you destroy my brothers?"

"I...I was just…" she tried speaking up as he walked towards her and she backed up.

"We were made as you wanted, yet you massacred us without hesitation."

She felt her heart begin to sink as she continued to back away unto her back met with something large, and furry. She turned her head and went wide eyed seeing Goliad standing there with a neutral expression. "Goliad?"

"You left me," she said. "You left me to fight my brother."

"I had no choice." she spoke trying to keep a calm tone. "You weren't ready to lead the Candy Kingdom. You were dangerous."

"Dangerous?" said another voice before she was surrounded by fire.

Bubblegum turned and saw Flame Princess walking over with her eyes red and her hands burning.

"Like how dangerous I was when I was just a baby? Or when I found out about your little cage?"

That one really hit her where it hurt. "FP-"

"Grab!" said the Ice king as he plucked her from the ground and flew away.

"Hey!" she cried flailing around. "Let go of me!" she ordered trying to break free.

"I can't, I'm so lonely." he spoke looking down at her with a serious expression while he slowly morphed back into Simon. "So cold and dreadfully alone in this world."

Bubblegum threw back her head and hit him in the nose making him cry out in pain and drop the Candy princess. She started running across the empty void with no idea where she was going while spotting something yellow up ahead. "Is that…"

The object turned to her and she saw it was Lemongrab's head in the ground looking at her. "You made me like this. You made me...UNACCEPTABLE!" he screeched as a wave of lemon candy spewed from his mouth.

Bubblegum covered her face as the candy hit her and stepped back before she fell back over something. She looked up and saw it was Marceline's stuffed toy with said vampire a few feet away, but younger looking and frowning.

"Simon, where's Simon?"

"What?" the princess got out while Marceline walked over while she started to slowly grow and age before her very eyes.

"Simon!" she hissed. She reached down and pulled Bubblegum up with her fangs showing. "What happened to him?!"

Bubblegum noticed the others from before started to gather around along with Tree Trunks, Mr. Pig, the king of OOO, even the horribly mutated James and Shoko.

"You made a mess of the perfect day for us." frowned the small elephant with her husband nodding.

"You made us into monsters." said James as he and Shoko moved closer.

"I might be a fraud, but that's just lies. You don't care who you use if it means you get what you want." laughed the king of OOO.

The others started to move in, the closer they came the more her heart sank. She looked around in fear and even saw Finn facing away from what was happening a few feet away.

"You're no Princess." he glanced at her with a hateful look before he started walking away.

Bubblegum screamed as she awoke in her bed while in a cold sweat. "GRAAA!"

She panted while Peppermint Butler barged in and ran over. "Princess, what's wrong?"

"Its these Globdonk nightmares." she said in aggravation.

The candy butler gasped. "Princess, language."

She looked at him and sighed while rubbing her head. "I'm sorry, but this keeps happening over and over and I just….I just feel so tired. I haven't had a restful sleep in so long."

"Perhaps I could get Doctor Princess over here to see if she can help." suggested the butler.

"I already tried, she gave me some sleeping pills, but I keep waking up every ten minutes or so. I know the problem but I can't get over it." she got up and dragged her feet out of bed. "I feel like it's here to stay. Every bad choice I made, despite how logical they were. They're all hitting me at once in my dreams."

"Oh my."

"I just want it to stop." she said before sighing. "But what can I do? It's not like I can just wish for to go away and...wait a second." she spoke in revelation and stood up straighter. "That's it! A wish!"

"Oh boy, you're starting to believe in magic, now I know how bad you need rest."

"No time." she said going to her writing desk and pulled out a roll of paper and a pen. "I need to get this down before I forget. Get me the phone, I need to talk to Jake."

Later the Magic dog tiredly stretched his way to the Candy Kingdom. He tried to keep from bumping into people while dragging himself to the castle.

"Glad you could make it Jake." Bubblegum said to him. "Sorry I had to call you over on such early notice."

"This better be good PB, I needs mah beauty sleep." Jake spoke while rubbing his eye.

"It is. I was wondering if you could help me meet the wish entity you and Finn encountered during one of your encounters with the Lich."

"You mean Prismo?" Jake questioned.

"Yes, its very important I meet with him as soon as possible."

"Um….ok." he said before reaching into himself pulled out a note and pressed the P. He and the princess broke down into colorful blocks that went straight up into the air. In no time they reformed back into the small room and PB looked around in surprise.

"Woah, now that was math." she said.

"Yo Prismo! Where ya at?" called Jake.

"I'm right behind you."

They turned with the being waving at Jake with Bubblegum looking surprised.

"Hi jake, who's your pretty little friend?" asked Prismo in a cheerful tone.

"Prismo, this here is Princess Bubblegum. Princess, this is my main bud Prismo." Jake introduced.

The princess walked up and held out her arms. "Mighty Prismo, I beseech you to please grant my wish."

"No need to talk like that, we're all cool here." he said. "What can I do to help?"

"Well, for the last few months I have been plagued by nightmares of my past misdeeds." she said as she reached into her pocket and pulled the roll of paper out. "I want you to help me undo my mistakes so that I can finally rest in peace."

"Woah. So you like, want me to send you back in time?"

"Well...if you must. I just want to be rid of this guilt that haunts me."

"Okay, but first I should warn you that my wishes always have an effect on others. Not to mention traveling back in time can cause a bit of trouble for your present timeline if you cause too much trouble in the past."

"You make it sound like if I'm successful then this timeline will not change."

"If you do it right then it won't, much. I'm just saying, take one wrong step and you could end up causing some mondo bad stuff." he clarified with a serious tone. "So I mean, did you take some time to really get it together before coming here or is this more than you thought?"

"It's kinda unexpected, I mean I know that actions in the past affect the future. But I can't rest until my mistakes are made right. I mean, take a look at this list." she said while unrolling the paper.

Jake and Prismo moved closer and looked down it.

"Yikes." Prismo commented.

"I forgot about that one." Jake said pointing at the paper.

"I want to try and change my actions for the better and not become an unfeeling ruler who didn't even cry for the most worst ones." she rolled it up while looking at the floor sadly.

"Okay I think I can help, but I should warn you. You can't let anyone other than your past self see you."

"Don't worry, I just need some time to meet my past self, give her this list, and make sure she follows it to the letter. Is there a way I can signal you to bring me back? Or will I fade from existence?"

"Oh don't worry we can monitor your progress from here." Prismo said before a remote appeared in his hand. He pressed the power button and the side wall to static like on a TV. "There's not much to see now, but that will change when I send you back." he cleared his throat and looked at her. "Now just to be clear, you'll go back in time, do what you did, then when come back here, depending on how it goes, you'll either fade, get a different look and attitude, or just regain her memories while everything around you has changed. Got all that?"

"Got it."

"Good, now before I send you back…" he pointed at the list before it broke down into colorful blocks and reformed into a small gem. "I reformed the list into that crystal, whenever she has to fix a mistake you made it will appear as a holographic projection, it'll last way longer that way. Paper is just so flimsy, you know?"

"Wow, thank you." she smiled gripping it. "So can you send me back to before my kingdom was made? Like when I just started working on the foundation?"

"You got it. Oh! I almost forgot ,don't make physical contact with your past-self or you'll explode like Antimatter."

"WHAT!?"

"Okay bye." Prismo waved as he sent her off before the screen changed. "And now we watch."

(Many years earlier)

Bubblegum appeared in a forest and fell down to her knees from the sudden transportation. "Okay, that's gonna take some getting use to." she stood up and still had the gem before brushing some dust off her and started walking through the woods. "When I get back I'm gonna give that Prismo a piece of my mind."

She saw the forest was teeming with animals that ran when she got close and noticed it looked familiar. "I remember this place, and if I'm right then…. " she looked through a clearing and spotted construction going on over on the other side. "Yes. I was right."

She carefully rushed over while staying hidden and spotted her past self talking with her earliest versions of candy citizens on moving supplies around.

"Alright people we got a lot to do and little time to do it. Let's hustle!" her past self barked commandingly.

The candy people nodded and ran to get to work.

"Wow, I forgot how bossy I was." future PB said before she rubbed her chin to think of a way to get her attention. "Oh!" she held her hand to her mouth and started making popping sounds.

Past PB's head stuck up hearing the sounds and turned towards the forest. "What's making that sound?" she asked as she moved over to the trees. "It almost sounds like-"

"What we say to calm down Neddy?" Future PB questioned popping up from the bush.

"AH!" cried out Past PB falling back and looking at the other Bubblegum with wide eyes and an open mouth. "W….What…..who….who are you?"

"Long story short, I'm you, from the future." Future PB specified. "And right now you're probably feeling confused, shocked, and paranoid right?"

"Uh yeah!" Past PB cried and stood back up. "I mean, how is this possible? Why am I talking to myself?"

"I...I made a time machine to come back here and help us." she fibbed since her past self would never believe it was the cause of something similar to magic. "And before I forget don't touch me, because there's a possibility of an Antimatter explosion."

"Say what?!" she cried out in shock.

"Trust me, I know it's shocking, even terrifying, but I came here with something crucial and important, so don't wonk out or faint, alright?"

"Eh...okay?" the Past PB replied making sure to keep her distance.

"Ok, so the truth is….you're gonna have two dozen kids and be friends with a fish."

"Come again?"

"Haha, nah I'm just kidding." smiled Future PB. "I just wanted to see how you, er I'd, react to something that crazy." she said before clearing her throat. "But seriously I need you to listen. In the future you're going to make a few mistakes that will haunt you if you just depend on logic." she held out her hand and showed the gem. "This holds a list of all the mistakes you're going to make, it'll tell you every mistake I made before you make it. But it'll be up to you to figure out how to make things better."

Past PB looked at the gem and back at her future self. "Hang on, before I believe all that, I want you to tell me something only we'd know, and no one else in the entire world."

"You wanna know if we ever try going lesbian? No, we don't." Future PB Said.

Her past self gasped with a blush on her cheeks before looking at the gem. "So wait, how do I use it?"

"It'll project my mistake in a holographic message before you make it yourself." she tossed it to her past self and smiled. "I know this is a lot to take in, but please, follow it exactly, and a lot of lives and things will change for the better. I want you to promise me on the highest degree you'll follow that list exactly point for point."

Past PB looked at the gem in her palm before closing her fist. "I'll do my best."

"Well just to be safe, I want you to make a royal promise on this."

"I royal promise. I'll do everything in my power to make things right" Past PB said to her future self.

"Good, if this works I just might be able to get a proper night's sleep. And try not to be so hard on your peeps, I learned that the hard way." she sighed in relief before looking up in the air. "Alright Prismo! You can take me back!"

Past PB looked confused before seeing her future self disappear in colorful blocks. "Woah!"

"Is everything alright?" asked a candy person walking over.

"Uh…" she looked down at the gem before putting it in her pocket. "Yeah, hey we've been working really hard, why don't you and the others take a little break, sound good?"

"Really? But you said we needed to get this done ASAP."

"I know, but I sometimes forget you guys have your limits. A break might actually do you some good."

"Oh, well, thank you, your highness." he said before rushing off. "Hey guys the princess says we can have a break!" he called as he ran off leaving the princess to look at the sky.

'Aw man, I thought this was gonna be tough, but now I gotta fix stuff that hasn't even happened? I really hope I don't wonk it up.' she thought and rubbed her head.


	2. Chapter 2

Royal screw ups

chapter 2

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Bubblegum was busy patching up the circuit board on the side of one of the Gumball Guardians who laid on the ground motionless and was nearly done. In a few weeks time they would be her Candy Kingdom's mightiest protectors.

"Almost...there...and….done!" the board was pushed into place with her screwing it in and put the hatch over the spot before stepping back. "Ok, time for a little break, and then I can get to work on installing the AIs." she stretched as she stood up then made her way to the elevator. When she got in the doors shut and it started moving. Suddenly she felt something vibrating in her pocket along with a faint humming sound. "Huh?" she pulled the gem her future self gave her out from her pocket and saw a holographic list project out and cycled through the many objectives. "Is something going to happen with my gumball guardians?"

She didn't see anything and even raised an eyebrow at some names she didn't know, yet, but stopped when she saw her brother's name flashing. She gasped and felt fear grip at her candy heart. "What's going to happen to Neddy?"

She tapped the name and saw some words show next to it. ' _Neddy's very sensitive and scared now, but if he was more accustomed to people and getting attention with love, then maybe he can grow up happy and more comfortable about people. Try to see if you can get him to open up and be willing to accept them without fear.'_

"Huh. Seems simple enough. I was worried for a second." she remarked as the elevator stopped and opened at the top of her makeshift bedroom before putting the gem back in her pocket. "Then I'll get right on it tomorrow and make sure he's loved by everyone."

The next morning Bubblegum got up bright and early. Her mind was racing with a thousand thoughts on her goal as she went through her morning routine.

'Alright let's think. I can calm him down with the sounds, but I need to try and see if he'll stay calm even without them. Maybe if I bring some candy people down there and show him they're nice that might be a nice way too. But I'll have to keep the number small. And choose my calmest and most well mannered candy people.' she thought before she headed down the elevator which opened on the ground floor.

"Wee wooo wee wooo." a young green banana candy said with a cardboard box that was drawn on to resemble a police car. "Make way officer of da law coming thwough!" he said chasing after a crying cupcake girl while a candy corn boy was jamming to the music on a boom box he had on his shoulder.

"You have got to be kidding me." said the princess looking over what was considered the cream of the crop.

"Please I was just out for a walk!" cried the cupcake girl running around in circles with the banana boy keeping up to pace with her.

"Yo keep it down punks! I'm tryin' to hear my tunes!"

Bubblebum sighed and walked over while clearing her throat. "Attention everyone!" she called out to the three who stopped what they were doing and looked at her. "I have an important announcement to make. You three have been selected to help me in a very important task. One that requires your ability focus and remain calm."

"Sowy pwincess, but I gotta awest this person for bweaking da law." spoke the banana candy pointing to the cupcake.

She was about to scold the boy before remembering what her future self said. She took a deep breath and stayed calm. "Well _Officer,_ for right now, I think we can let her off with a warning. She said and gave a wink to the cupcake girl. "This task is something I need everyone for, and it'll be a big help to me and the entire kingdom. Can I count on you?"

"I'll do it!" spoke the cupcake girl running over while wiping her tears away.

"Vewy well dhen. I will overlook her cwime, for now."

"Not me yo. I got some tunes to listen to." spoke the last candy person.

Princess bubblegum groaned, but merely let it slide. "Fine. You two come with me and remember, stay calm and quiet."

They nodded before she led them away from the dancing teen. The three went into the elevator which went down under the ground and deep enough to where it got a little dark.

The cupcake girl shook in fear and hugged Bubblegum's leg.

"It's alright, nothing to be scared of." smiled the princess patting her on the head. "We're just going down to meet my little brother."

"You have a little brother? I didn't know that."

The elevator stopped and they arrived in a hall.

"Not many people know about Neddy. He's kinda my little secret." she said before leading them down the hall. "You see he's shy and gets very nervous around others. I want to change that by making him feel more comfortable around others." she replied while they stopped at a door and she input a code before the doors opened and they walked inside. The room had a large pool with a large bubblegum dragon slurping at a root.

"Wow! He's big." spoke the banana boy who forgot to be quiet.

Neddy's eyes opened and he suddenly grew scared as he looked around frantically. "Wah! Wah! Wah!"

"Get back." Bubblegum ordered the two children before stepping forward to the edge of the pool. She took a deep breath and started to make the popping sounds with Neddy looking at her without calming down.

"It's okay Neddy, everything's okay." spoke Bubblegum while keeping up the sounds as she moved over to the dragon who stared and seemed to calm down, if just a little bit. "I want you to see the world isn't as scary as you believe."

The candy dragon listened to the soothing sounds and seemed to grow calmer while looking at her and back at the candy people with confusion and nervousness.

"It'll be okay." she reached a hand out near his side and lightly ran it across his skin. "Just relax, I'll be right here."

"Y-Y-Your majesty, what do you want us to do?" asked the cupcake girl trying to keep her voice down.

"Just be friendly, but don't startle him." she replied while she made more popping sounds as she rubbed his side which seemed to help him relax a little bit more.

"Uh...h-h-hi Neddy." waved the cupcake girl with the banana boy doing the same.

"You're weally big." said the boy with a giggle.

Neddy flinched from the giggling while Bubblegum looked at him with a frown. "Neddy, easy, that just means he's happy, a little too happy." she hinted.

The banana boy walked over and looked up at Neddy. "Wow, so does he do anything?"

"Yes, in fact all the candy juice that you bath with comes from him."

"What? Gross." cringed the banana boy while the cupcake girl went wide eyed.

"You may think it's gross, but without the juices healing properties the people of the Candy Kingdom would slowly die out until no one is left." she revealed.

This left the two without a shock before the princes gestured the cupcake girl over. "Come over, let Neddy know you're friendly."

The girl was a little hesitant at first since Neddy's size made him a little intimidating but after gathering her courage she began to slowly walk over. She tried focus on the body and hesitantly reached her hand out and pressed it against his skin, which felt a little squishy and jiggled from Neddy's trembling.

"See Neddy? She's not gonna hurt you." The princess smiled at how well her little brother was keeping calm.

Neddy looked at the cupcake girl with curiosity with said candy person trying to give the spot a little rub.

'Wow, this just might work.' Bubblegum thought while seeing Neddy start to lay his head down to show he was feeling calm and sleepy.

"HOLY SHIZNIT!" Screamed the candy corn teen seeing Neddy for the first time.

"Ahhh!" screamed the candy dragon hearing the loud voice and seeing the new candy while sitting up and started making scared sounds.

"Dang PB that thing es muy grande!" he said and ran over.

"Be quiet!" she tried shushing him while rubbing Neddy's sides.

"Wah! Wah! WAAAAHHH!" cried Neddy freaking out while trying to claw through the wall.

"Neddy no! Stop!" spoke Bubblegum trying to make her sounds louder. "Calm down!"

"Where you been hidin' this guy anyway?"

"You! Out!" she pointed at the hall leading to the elevator while rubbing Neddy's sides as best as she could.

"Okay geez." he went back into the elevator and turned his music up as he left.

She groaned loudly.

"Your majesty! What do we do?" asked the cupcake girl seeing Neddy still freaking out.

"Stay back before you get hurt!"

The cupcake girl and the banana boy quickly backed up while Bubblegum tried rubbing across Neddy's belly.

"Oh Neddy."

After getting Neddy calm and sending the kids off, the princess locked herself in her lab.

"Alright, so helping Neddy feel safe is a time effort part, but I'll keep at it and make sure he doesn't have a panic attack with each new person I show him. But maybe I'm looking at this from the wrong perspective. What if instead of working from the inside out I should be working from the outside in."

She grabbed some beakers and thought it over in her head before mixing them together while grabbing a small piece of a scale from a nearby jar and added it before setting the beaker on an open flame. After a few tests and some trial and error she had a suitable solution.

"Alright, now I just need to get him to drink this and hope his body will accept it without any sort of problems." she said with a hint of worry. She headed back to the elevator and took it back down to the lower level. Neddy was still a little shaken by earlier and was huddled up in a ball in his pull. "Hey Neddy, how ya doin'?"

"Wah!" he let out jumping from seeing her while curling up again.

"Still edgy huh?" she frowned while stopping. "Believe me Neddy, I didn't mean for you to get scared. I just want you to feel safe and comfy around the candy people. But I think it's not about knowing them that I need to begin with. I think you're just scared of being hurt, aren't you?"

He let out a whine as he thought back on his moments after separating from the Mother Gum. He covered his face while crying remembering the pain right after he was born and started shaking.

"Well, I've got something for you that might help." she smiled holding the beaker up. "I've done tons of tests on it, and I believe it'll help you out a whole lot. Drink this and I promise it'll be a lot harder for anyone, or anything to hurt you."

He looked at the beaker and slowly uncurled himself while still staying where he was.

"Come on Neddy, time to take your medicine." she slowly walked over while trying not to scare him. "I can't be certain you won't feel some discomfort but it I need you to be strong, for me."

He looked down at her and leaned down while eyeing the beaker.

"Okay, are you ready?"

He gave a small nod and eased opened his mouth.

She opened the beaker and felt conflicted about what might happen. On one hand it might help him, on the other it might make things worse. "Okay...here goes nothing." she slowly poured it into his mouth before he shut it and gulped the chemicals down. "Okay, now just give it a second."

Neddy smacked his lips and noted a strange taste. He and his sister stayed silent before his eyes widened and he let out a cry before thrashing around in the pool.

"Oh no, Neddy!" cried out Bubblegum with shock as she couldn't get close and covered her mouth. 'I did it! I donked up!' she thought as Neddy fell down on his belly and she lost sight of him under the candy juice. "NEDDY! NEDDY WHERE ARE YOU?!"

Under the juice Neddy was feeling severe pain. He began to feel his face turn over and his rotund body stretched and thin out. Finally he felt his skin harden all over especially on his back and sides. He let out a garbled yell of pain while his body slowly floated back up to the surface.

PB saw what Neddy had become, what she had done to him, and stood frozen. "N...Neddy?"

The candy dragon raised his head and shook before looking at his sister.

"Whoa, Neddy you look…amazing."

He was stunned at his new look while noting how easier it felt to move around and how tough his skin felt.

"I thought by using a dragon Scale would just make your skin harder but this…" she trailed off while he looked at her. "Oh Glob, I'm sorry Neddy, I totally messed up."

He looked at himself in the reflection of the pool and jumped. "Wah!" he was terrifying.

"Easy Neddy." she spoke while moving over and making the sounds as she tried patting his leg.

Neddy continued to look himself over and felt something rising up inside him. He was terrifying, he could scare anyone instead of them scaring him claws had sprouted from his fingers and his teeth were razor like fangs, like the rock that hurt him years ago.

"Neddy?" Bonny spoke trying to get his attention.

He looked down at his sister with a smile and leaned down before nuzzling his head against her in gratitude.

She sighed in relief and rubbed his cheek. "Thank Glob you're alright. I was worried I just made things worse for you."

"N-No…"

Her eyes widened. "Neddy….did you just talk?"

"...Neddy...talk." he replied.

Bonnie gasped as she smiled. "You did!" she called while hugging his face. "Oh, I'm so proud of you." she said as she felt her eyes well up.

"Proud….you." he said before lifting his head before he started to happily move and splashed around in his pool.

Bonnie smiled at the scene before he started sucking on the roots again with the juice pouring out of his body like usual, but in slightly larger amounts. She felt the Gem vibrate and a hum in her pocket again. She pulled it out while the hologram showed and it showed Neddy's name getting crossed off. "Well that's one down."


	3. Chapter 3

Royal screw ups

chapter 3

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PB smiled as she saw her kingdom slowly getting bigger then last time. She was making great progress. The only problem was the toxic mutagen flowing by her kingdom. "If I can make a fortified trench around it, I could trail it out from this area and into an unliving spot to keep any beings from getting contaminated. Not to mention I have to finish my newest project." she said gripping the amulet around her neck.

She walked over to a small tent she had set up and sat down in a chair before setting the amulet on the table. "It's taken so long but soon my gumball guardians will be fully operational." she looked down at the amulet and gulped. "But that just means things are gonna start getting trickier, I can already tell." she let out a sigh before her crown started vibrating. "Huh?" She took it off and removed the small gem her future self gave her from the little slot she made for it. "I knew it, something's going on soon."

She held it in her palm before the instructions appeared. ' _Try and help a girl called Shoko when she shows up to try and infiltrate the kingdom regarding the amulet for the gumball guardians.'_

"Okay this I can do." she stood up while taking the amulet and putting it back around her neck. 'I just gotta try and make sure the guardians don't attack her when they become functional.' she thought and walked out of her tent.

"Princess!" cried a greenish banana guard running over and panting when he reached her.

"What is it?" she questioned.

"We….saw….an intruder. Near the... constriction site….she's unconscious."

'That must be her.' "Show me at once."

The guard took her to the site where a woman lay on the ground next to a large white tiger. Said tiger glared at her and looked ready to defend its master at the drop of a hat.

Bubblegum looked at the woman and the first thing she noticed was she had only one arm. She moved over before seeing the tiger get in her way with a growl. "Easy big guy." she said while holding up her hands. "I'm not here to hurt you two, I just wanna make sure she's alright and not injured." she spoke softly.

It still growled just as they heard the woman start groaning and open her eyes.

"Ugh, my head."

"Excuse me. Are you alright?"

She looked up at Bubblegum and looked confused. "Yeah, but who are you?"

"Princess Bubblegum of the candy kingdom. What happened here?"

"I was fighting one of those pervy bath boys and he got me with a cheap shot."

"Ugh! I hate those guys!"

"No argument here." she frowned while standing up and noticed the kingdom. "Woah, nice place you got here."

"Thanks, did you get a good look at the attacker?"

"No, I was trying shield my eyes from his semi-nakedness. Don't they realize those towels don't really cover much? I mean one wrong move and the old family jewels are out of the treasury."

"I think they just like to freak people out and not worry about one of them actually sticking around to aim down there." they shared a good laugh before Bubblegum offered her hand to the stranger. "Come on let's get you looked at miss…"

"Shoko." she replied as she grabbed the hand.

'So this is Shoko.' Bubblegum thought before she began to lead her to the kingdom. 'If I can get her alone and try to get her to listen, then I can get her on the right track in no time.'

She had her best doctor look over her and to her relief there was no permanent damage. When the doctor left she sat on the bed and looked Shoko in the eye. "How are you feeling?"

"Not bad, although I'll feel even better when I find the jerk who blindsided me, grab him by the boys and make the rest of his adult life very boring."

"Well that's gonna have to hold off, cause I got something big to talk to you about."

"Okay?" she raised an eyebrow in confusion. "And what's that?"

"I know what you're here for. You're after my amulet."

Shoko's eyes widened while gripping the sheets and gulped. "Uh….why would I want that?"

"You tell me? From what I've been told you want to steal it."

"Who told you?" she frowned. 'I swear if those bastards ratted me out just to be used as a guinea pig…'

Bubblegum took off her crown and showed her the gem. "I learned about you from this."

She looked at her completely lost.

"Let me explain." Bubblegum told her the story of meeting a version of herself who traveled from the future. As she got to the gem and the list, Shoko was starting to look less confused, but more cautious and surprised.

"Seriously, time travel?"

"I know it sounds insane, but from what I've been told, I need to help you get away from that gang and help you find a better path to life."

"Right and I have both my arms." she replied sarcastically before plopping back on the pillow. "Next you'll say the whole place is filled with princesses."

"...come with me." she said standing up. "I want you to meet my brother, Neddy."

"Why?"

"I'm guessing a visual aid will prove that I'm telling the truth. Now follow me or I'll have one of my guards escort you."

"Alright, only but only because my employer will kill me if I leave empty handed." she sighed getting out of bed and followed the princess. "Is he cute?"

"I don't think he's your type." she remarked as they reached an elevator and it began going down when the doors shut. "Just try not to make too much noise or sudden movements, he's still adjusting to things."

"What is he, autistic?"

"You could say that." she said before the elevator stopped and they arrived to a underground room with a large pool but no sign of the candy dragon.

"Okay so where is he?" she asked befor Bubblegum pointed to the pool. "Is he swimming? Like is he trying to hold his breath?" she asked looking down before a large pair of glowing eyes shown under the surface. "Wah!" she jumped back while seeing waves form with a figure rising up over her.

"Shoko meet my little brother, Neddy." the princess said calmly.

"That….that's your brother?" she questioned stepping back slowly.

"Thats right, hey Neddy how ya doin' today big guy?"

He let out a small groan and looked at Shoko with curiosity while keeping away a little.

"It's okay bud, she can't hurt you remember?" she said knocking on his hard candy scales. "Besides, she can't do much with me here. I wanted to bring her here to prove a point and help with your social skills."

He looked at Shoko who stayed still.

"He wasn't always like this you know." spoke PB rubbing his side. "Before he was quick to be startled and hardly ever interacted with someone. But after some advice from my future self I helped him."

"I still find that hard to believe."

"Well what about believing in a better life?"

She looked at PB and away. "Unless I actually hear what you're suggesting, that's hard to believe in."

"You could stay here, once my newest invention is ready nothing will bring harm to my kingdom." suggested PB. "It's big, and I know it'll get bigger cause my future self didn't say it would fall into ruin any time soon."

She looked at the princess with surprise and hope. "Wait, really?"

"Yeah, it'll be nice to have someone to talk to, plus it'll really stick it to those pervy Bath Boys." she smiled with a thumbs up.

"Don't forget dumb. Their leader kept calling your amulet an Omelet."

That made her laugh and hug her stomach. "Oh Glob! That really is ridiculous."

Shoko joined in the laughter as Neddy tilted his head.

They bid farewell to the candy dragon and returned to the surface level where Bubblegum lead her to the castle and showed her around what she had for it so far.

"Okay so most of the castle is still under construction, but this one of the only rooms that is completed, my laboratory." she spoke gesturing to the more spacious area.

"Woah ho ho, you made all this stuff?"

"And my candy peeps." PB said before walking by Shoko. "All of my candy people were made, and will be continued to be made here."

"Dang girl what's it like to play Glob?"

"I prefer to think of it more as me helping to craft my people and their future." Bubblegum said before walking over to a pot with a pink substance then held up her amulet. "Live!" she cried before sending a bolt from it. What floated out was a large peppermint candy with arms and legs. "Welcome to the world little one." she said and pulled him out.

It looked around in confusion while falling down as she set him on the ground.

"Yeah that's not like playing Glob at all." Shoko muttered.

"Shh, I want him to try and see if he can learn how to stand on his own." Bubblegum said as she crouched with her arms over her lap. "Come on little guy, can you stand?"

The peppermint candy pushed himself up and tried to keep his balance as he stood up. He wobbled a little and slowly put his first foot forward but when he tried to move the other foot he fell flat on his face.

"Oh well just keep trying." urged Bubblegum helping him stand back up as Shoko walked over and crouched next to Bubblegum.

"Why don't you just help him?"

"They need to learn to do things for themselves, if you coddle them they'll never get stronger. I lead my people, but I can't baby them." she replied as the candy tried moving his feet again. "To some it my seem like I don't care, but I do. I just can't have them coming to me for every little problem."

The peppermint groaned and tried moving more than last time before falling on it's back and started crying.

Bubblegum gently lifted him up and put him back on his feet. "It'll be alright, just keep going. You'll get stronger the more you try."

It sniffled while she wiped the tears away and looked at it's feet.

"Go on you can do it, I know you can, you're made of harder stuff than you think."

It began to slowly move his feet and closed his eyes as his feet began to keep going ahead one step at a time. This kept going at a slow pace while he saw and didn't fall down again.

"See? I told you." smiled PB while the candy person let out a cheer and hugged her face. "You're welcome, now why don't you take a moment to relax, you've earned it."

Shoko watched the peppermint lay down against the table and shook her head. "Alright, so you might have an idea on how to get them started."

"Like I said, I'll help, but if I coddle them too much, the kingdom won't be able to grow and get stronger."

"If you say so." Shoko shrugged. "Just don't sell their body parts for a lousy laptop to some trash like my parents did." she spoke looking at her stump.

"I would rather become Glob's rug then do something so heinous." she said before walking over and took a look at the stump. "Good grief, is there no decency left in OOO? I can't imagine the pain this caused you, physically and emotionally."

"Trust me, it hurt like you wouldn't believe, and I still wanna wring their necks if I ever see them, but the feeling comes and goes."

"I can make you a new arm...if you want?" Bonnie offered. "It wouldn't take too much time and I can make it a little stronger than a flesh and blood one. I can have a mechanical prototype ready by this time tomorrow."

"For real?"

"Honestly it would be simple compared to everything else I created." the princess smiled.

"That's…..kind of you."

"Hey, girls gotta stick together right?" Bonnie chuckled and gave a light jab to Shoko's shoulder. "I'll show you where you can sleep and get to work on the arm."

"Yeah… okay." She nodded before Bubblegum lead her out and up to her bed on the top of the tower with a second bed close by where the dark haired girl's tiger lay. "Did you already have a spare set up?"

"Not until today."

Shoko got on the bed while her tier nuzzled her and she laid her head down on the pillow to try and get comfy. "Thanks PB."

"No prob." she smiled before laying down. "Night Shoko, see you in the morning."

"You too." Shoko nodded and turned over.

(Next day)

Shoko was walking around town under construction taking in the sights and imagining what the kingdom would look like in it heyday. 'This place would be awesome to live in.' she thought as she reached the edge of the city.

"Psst! Shoko." whispered a male voice from the bushes.

"Huh?" she faced the direction and saw one of the the bath boys.

"The boss wants to know whether you got the amulet."

"I...I don't have it."

"Well hurry it up, he's getting impatient."

Shoko looked down at the ground and thought for a moment before hardening her gaze. "No."

"What'chu say?"

"I said if your boss has a problem with it, then he can stuff it in his bathtub. I'm not getting the amulet. He and the rest of you pervs can kiss my butt."

"Oh you shouldn't have said that." he frowned and stepped out cracking his knuckles. "You just messed up, big time. Any last words?"

"Yeah, cup check." she spoke confusing the male before she kneed him in the junk.

"OOOOOOOH!" he squeaked out before dropping down to his knees and held the spot with a wheeze. "Bitch." he groaned and face planted in the dirt.

"And don't you forget." she gave a kick to his side before walking away with a proud smile. "Run back to the bath tub little boy."

"You'll…..regret….this." he groaned before crawling back into the bushes.

"Bitch ass chump." she muttered to herself.

"Shoko!" PB called walking over with a smile and a box in her arms. "I got the arm ready."

"Wow, that was faster than I thought." she said looking at the box."

"I told you it would be a snap, now I know it's nothing fancy but it is just a prototype." she replied before opening it up to show a mechanical dark blue claw arm.

"Woah." Shoko looked it over. "This looks amazing."

"I'll make you a better one after I work out some plans, think you can make do with it for now?"

She picked it up and slipped it on her stump and hissed feeling wires dig into her and made her grit her teeth before feeling the digits twitch. "Yeah, I'll manage. Oh and heads up, one of those bath boy idiots came by, so I think the rest are gonna be paying us a visit."

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, but I nailed that guy in the boys, you ever wonder what that feels like?"

"Apparently it's like hitting your funny bone and sending the pain shooting through you."

"Yikes, glad we don't got those."

"All histrionics aside I need to get things ready for invasion."

"Gonna gather the troops?"

"Of course not. have you seen my soldiers?" she said looking at her banana guards. They walked around trying to act tough before accidentally bumping into each other and fell down. "I've got something else in mind. Come with me."

Shoko followed the princess down to a lower part of the castle confused before taking out her amulet.

"Ready to have your mind blown?"

"Give me your best shot."

She walked to a machine with a slot in it and slid the amulet inside. She stepped back and crossed her arms while Shoko started to see the machine begin rising up.

There was a flash of electricity that made shoko flinch before a pair of large machines began to move up and leaving her slack jawed. "Okay….that might work." She spoke and smiled to Bonnie.

"Hello mother." spoke the machines which had gumball machine faces with ice cream cone hats and long skinny limbs.

(Later)

The bath tub boys headed towards the kingdom while angry and itching for a rumble. The boss was in a bathtub in a wagon.

"I wanted to do this clean, but looks like we're gonna have to get dirty." the boss frowned.

"Don't worry boss, we'll show that bitch you don't mess with us, then we'll get the omelette."

"That omelette is gonna look real good around my neck." he smirked before feeling the ground shake. "What in the…"

"Boss! Look!"

They looked up at the kingdom and saw the gumball guardians step over the walls and looked at them.

"Threat detected, terminate at once." said one of the titanic machines with Shoko and Bonnie standing on its head.

"Yo ding dongs! Say hello to my not so little friends, the gumball guardians!" Bubblegum called out. "Open fire!"

Their mouths opened before firing lasers out that made the gang scream and scatter while the guardians stomped over while blasting at them in the forest.

"WOOHOO!" Shoko cheered. "THIS IS AWESOME!"

"Ah! Those things are crazy!" cried one member while nearly getting his butt fried.

"Ah, my towel!"

"Boss what do we do?!"

"Let's get out of here!" he cried jumping out of the tub running away while one of the small blasts hit his butt, giving it a nasty burn. "YEOWCH!" he cried and jumped and covered his backside.

"Now get ya tranches! And stay away from our kingdom!" called PB.

"Yeah get lost!" Shoko laughed.

They booked it away while the two girls smirked and high fived.

"No omelette is worth this!"

"That was awesome!" cheered Shoko before laughing. "I can tell I'm going to like living here."

"Just try not to eat my people and you'll do fine." joked PB.

Later the two returned to the castle laughing.

"Did you see the look on his face when he saw the guardians just rise up out of nowhere?"

"Oh my Glob! I think a few of them wet their towels!" laughed Shoko hitting the floor.

"How much you wanna bet some of them are still running?"

"Oh Glob, maybe they'll fall off the end of the continent."

The two laughed harder and ended up lying next to each other Bubblebum didn't really mind but Shoko did slow down on the laughter and take notice.

"You know PB, this has been great." smiled the girl. "I mean, no one's done so much for me in such a short little time. You rock." she said rolling on top off the princess.

"No problem, but could you get up? It is a little late and-" without warning Shoko's mouth collided with hers and her tongue wormed in. "MMMPPP!" her eyes widened before feeling Shoko's hips grind against hers. She grabbed the girl's shoulders and tried pushing her off and gasped when their lips broke apart. "Shoko!"

"What? *Pant* What's wrong?"

"Why….why did you kiss me like that?"

"Well duh, I'm a lesbian." She replied gesturing to herself. "Can't you tell? I mean, it's pretty obvious."

"No, I didn't know." she shook her head with a blush. "I-I was totally oblivious."

"Well I thought you were one too, you kinda look like one."

"Seriously? No no I am not a lesbian."

"But then why are you dressed like one?"

"What part of my outfit is any indication that I'm a lesbian? I found this outfit in this magazine." She said walking up to her bed and pulled a magazine titled 'Lez-Bo'.

"Well for one, every lesbian's in OOO."

"That's ridiculous."

"Also Lez Bo is a lesbian magazine by lesbians for lesbians." she clarified with a deadpanned expression. "Why do you think it's called that?"

"Oh my Glob." Bubblegum said in bewilderment before looking down at her outfit then covered herself with her legs crossed. "I always thought the Z was silent."

"No, it is not" Shoko's replied and scratched her head with a blush. "...okay, so…This is kinda awkward huh?"

"Yes, very." Bubblegum replied bluntly. "Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against girls liking girls. It's just, it's not me."

"Well lesbian or not, you make that outfit work." Shoko complimented.

"Thank you, but I need to change. Although I don't know what I'm gonna change into since almost everything I have is from Lez-bo!"

"Relax, it's not like you've gotten hit on by other girls besides me, right?"

"No, at least not yet." She said and walked over to her closet. She looked inside and began tossing random clothes out of the way.

Shoko bent down and picked up a fur skirt. "Hey, if you don't want the stuff from Lez-bo-"

"It's all yours." PB cut her off. "I don't wanna get attention from nothing but girls the rest of my life."

"Nice," Shoko pumped her fist. "thanks Sweetie."

"Sweetie?" the princess repeated and looked back.

"Yeah... cause you're partly sugar?" she chuckled. "Get it?"

"Oh, okay." She said looking back in her wardrobe. "And word of advice, be sure of the person's sexuality the next time you try playing tonsil hockey with them."

"Alright alright, I will." Shoko rolled her eyes. "Let's just agree to never bring it up again."

"Agreed." PB answered. She managed to get her pjs with bunnies out and held them up. "These'll have to do until I can get new ones."

Shoko snorted and tried not to laugh as PB went behind a folding screen. "Aw, how cute."

"Watch it." she warned poking her head out from behind the screen with a serious expression before going back to changing changing her clothes.

"Hey, I know I'm part of your kingdom and all, but I should let you know I like to do a little adventuring now and then so I might be gone a lot."

"As long as you don't get hurt or accidentally get us in a war I understand."

"Great." she smiled before lying back down on her bed as PB did the same. "Maybe I'll bring back some gold you might like."

"Just promise you'll come back in relatively one piece. I don't have many friends I can hold a conversation with."

"You got it PB." Shoko nodded and held out her arms "Hug on it?"

"Sure." she smiled before hugging the girl who took a deep breath. "Did you just sniff my hair?"

"...Maybe."

PB sighed. 'This is going to take a long time getting use to.'


	4. Chapter 4

Royal screw ups

chapter 4

xxxxxxxxxxx

Time past and the candy kingdom was bustling with life.

In her office Bubblegum wore a pale brown robe with a crimson shoulder cape and her hair in rope like dreadlocks. She rubbed her chin as she going over some blueprints she drew up. "Okay it's down to this one or this one." she leaned forward with a hum as she rubbed her chin when suddenly she heard a bell toll three times outside. "Oh sounds like she's home." she said with smile.

Outside the walls of the candy kingdom a hoverbike was approaching. The rider was a familiar dark haired woman with cybernetic arm that glimmered in the sunlight. Her hair had grown out, but her clothes were more upgraded. She wore a pair of dark pants and knee high boots with metal guards in front of the shins. Her top was a purple tunic with a sleeve over her flesh arm and a chest plate over her torso.

She slowed down near the front gate with two green banana guards snoozing on the job with spears. "Ho boy," she shook her head. "Hey!" she called out and clapped her hands.

They groaned and turned on their sides without waking up.

"Ugh, Bubblegum needs to fix your brains." the woman said and just drove into the kingdom. She saw the buildings getting bigger with more candy people wondering about who noticed and waved to her with her waving back before heading towards the castle and into the princess's office. "What's up Sweetie?"

"Welcome back, Shoko." Bubblegum greeted with a smile.

"Man, I am beat." Shoko said popping her back. "I've explored Thirteen ancient ruins in the past week."

"Well that's what you get for trying to discover everything you see. I told you you need to take it easy, chalk another one up for me."

"Well if you're gonna be like that, I guess you don't want the present I go you." she said holding up a small box with a ribbon on it.

"Aw what," the princess stood up and tried to grab the gift only for Shoko to hold it over her head. "Oh come on don't be like that, gimme it, gimme my present!"

The two giggled while playing their little game of keep away. Over the last ten years Shoko had grown taller than her friend so this was common Amongst the two.

"Curse you and your tallness!" Bubblegum said trying to sound angry.

"I ain't tall, you're just too short." she snickered while tossing the box from hand to hand. Bubblegum tried jumping to grab it in a comedic fashion."Hahaha okay okay." she lowered her hand and gave the princess her gift. "But I gotcha."

PB opened her gift and pulled out an orb with a swirling mass inside. "Oooh, what is it?"

"Its called the Soul Stone. You wouldn't believe what I had to go through to get it. I thought you might like to study it. I mean how often do you do you get a chance to study an actual soul?"

"This is true, I can't just bring someone back and use them, I'm a scientist not a necromancer. This has so much potential." She said looking at the orb while Shoko walked over to Bubblegum's desk.

"So whatcha been working on since I've been gone Sweetie?"

"Well I've been pondering on this one idea for someone to help me. I know I won't be around all the time, so maybe this fella could keep an eye on things when I'm busy with something else outside of the kingdom." she said holding up the blueprints for a citizen made of lemon candy. "Of course I also have these plans for smaller version of the gumball guardians only instead of lasers the'll be armed with swords." she finished and handed the blueprints to Shoko who raised an eyebrow at the design.

"Umm, Bonnie, don't you find this design to be a little… I don't know, graphic?" Shoko questioned.

"What do you mean?" the princess questioned.

"Well... they look like upside down gumball machines so…"

"Well yeah I thought I'd do something different, so what?" she shrugged.

"The gumballs PB. They're right between their legs. That makes a bit of a statement." spoke Shoko pointing at the spot with a blunt tone. "You build these like this and people are gonna think things, like... you were playing with yourself when you thought this up….were you?"

"What?! No!" she screeched with a bright blush and snatched the plans from Shoko.

"Just asking." The woman stated.

"I guess I'll save this one for another time, after a change of design." she said and stuffed the plans in her desk drawer.

"So why did you wanna put a lemon guy in charge when you're not around? Isn't it kinda….off if this is the CANDY kingdom?"

"Well yeah, but I never made a citizen out of lemon candy before so…" she trailed off. "Let's see how it goes."

"Yeah alright." shrugged Shoko before the gem on Bubblegum's necklace started glowing. "Woah, your things doing a thing."

"Huh?" she looked down and jumped. "Oh!" she opened it and the gem projected the next task on the list.

' _Lemongrab, the lemon one who you may want to make will…..turn sour in a manner of speaking. When he's made he'll be loud, annoying, and also become a danger to the kingdom. I'm not saying destroy or stop, but try and help him feel kindness so he doesn't end up as a creeper.'_

"Lemongrab huh?" Shoko spoke rubbing her chin. "Kinda has a nice ring to it."

"Well let's get started then. First i need lemon candy from storage to make the Candy flesh."

"On it, you just go get your lab setup." she replied before walking out of the office.

Later Bubblegum created a batch of candy flesh and was ready to begin the experiment. "Okay first of we'll make a small candy creature and see how it turns out." she said to Shoko and molded it into the shape of a small person. She focused while slowly making the head in the shape of a lemon.

"Nice craftsmanship." shoko complimented.

"Thanks, now for the body." she said and molded a small body.

"You're quite the artisan old friend."

"Well when you've been doing this for as long as I have, it becomes second nature." she replied as a body slowly formed and she began working on the limbs and finished with little body with the fingers and toes. "There, all done." She said and put it down on the table.

"You work fast." Shoko said. "So what now, you gonna use your amulet to bring it to life?"

"Actually I have a chemical compound that works just as well." she said grabbing a beaker with a purple liquid inside. "It'll strengthen its candy bones instantly and endow it with basic motor skills."

"Like every other candy person around?"

"Yes, but it will still have the mind of an infant until its educated." she replied before slowly pouring a drop of the liquid onto the head.

A face began to form and the two leaned in. It blinked before slowly letting out a loud cry and sat up while looking around wildly. AHHHH AH AH AH AHHHHHH!" it flailed its arms in the air and its eyes rolled into the back of its head leaving only white.

"Yeesh!" the girls grimaced and recoiled before the little creature ran off the table and plopped face down on the floor yet still screamed and flailed its legs as well. Eventually it slowly stopped and laid there while they shared a look with each other.

"What the balls. Was that suppose to happen?" Shoko asked the princess.

"As far as I know, no. I expected it to just be confused, not….do that."

"Well we can't just let it get out." Shoko spoke. "You want I should...you know?" she said dragging a finger over her neck and made a sound in the back of her throat.

"No, we can't just get rid of him when he's just gotten life. We need to try and help him grow and learn. I'll try and make more of these little guys and see if i can find the problem before we make the real Lemongrab."

"Okay, but I'm putting this one somewhere he can't escape?" she said and picked up the little creature by the foot with her robotic hand. It started making more sounds while flailing around like a fish. "It's like a living doll, straight from the Nightosphere."

"Just try and be careful with him." The princes stated grabbing a clipboard and a pencil.

"Whatever you say Bubs." Shoko said and walked to the large unoccupied terrarium Bonnie usually put her candy plant experiments in, then tossed him inside. "There ya go ya little freak. Plenty of room for you to run around crazy AND keep you in one spot."

"Now be nice Shoko." PB said jotting down some notes then crafted another one, only the lemon shape of its head was horizontal.

"Ha! Football head." Shoko laughed after taking one look at it.

"Oh hush." she scolded before adding another drop of the chemical. This one sat up and wailed while rolling its head. "Aw man." PB spoke in disappointment.

"Strike two Sweetie." Shoko grabbed it making its eyes bulge from the tight grip and put it with the other one.

"Third time's the charm." she crafted another feeling hopeful in her calculations. But upon bringing it to life it wailed with its eyes closed before the skin peeled away on the head to reveal the paler yellow coloring of it candy muscle with bulbous green eyes. "Ewww… just….ewww."

"You took the words right out of my mouth." Shoko replied and took it away. She dropped it with the others and rubbed her chin. "Maybe lemon candy isn't meant to be."

"I'm not giving up." Bubblegum said writing down more notes on the clipboard. "Have the chefs brew some tea, it's gonna be a long afternoon."

Over the hours the princess performed numerous tests in an attempt to find out what she was doing wrong. She made a number of the lemon candy creatures but they were all still so crazy, and each one was more deformed. Slowly the terrarium for them was getting filled.

"Look Bonnie, I don't want to tell you how to do your job, but I think you should quit while you're ahead."

"You think I just quit when it took me several years just to get the components I needed for the guardians?" she spoke with an irritated tone.

"I'm just sayin', maybe you should take a break. You've been working non-stop, everyone needs to relax for a moment."

She groaned before setting the beaker down and rubbed her head. "Fine, but just for a few minutes."

"Cool, let's go back to your room and I'll rub your back." Shoko suggested with a smile.

"That depends, are you gonna try and cop a feel like last time or do you just wanna see me naked?"

"Hey I can stay in control...most of the time."

"Just for a little bit, but those hands better not go drifting downward."

"No promises." she said as the two walked out.

PB lay face down on her bed while Shoko rubbed the heels of her palms on her back. "I just don't get it."

"How so many little creepy things can go wrong?" Shoko questioned rubbing her elbow on PB's back.

"If I could only figure out what makes them different from the usual candy subjects I created I could fix it." she sighed while letting out a groan. "Ooh. Yeah, right there."

"Look, I know you want to stop whatever bad stuff is supposed to happen." Shoko said straddling the princess and worked out the knots in the shoulders. "But you need to learn not to push yourself. You need to let others help you."

"I just don't wanna mess anything up. If just one thing goes wrong, I might make the future even more donked up." she said and rested her chin on her crossed arms. "Also, is it really necessary to be sitting on me like this just to rub my shoulders?"

"Heheheh, don't make it sound all weird, we're both girls with the same bits. I'm not gonna be around to help you forever ya know."

"I figured that, but you don't have to worry about what might happen. Other than seeing what's on the list, I have no idea what might happen and it has me on my toes." she frowned before Shoko leaned down.

"And you say I worry too much. I dread to think what you would do without me for too long?"

"Oh ha ha. If I'm going to be honest I could do without your constant attempts to seduce me."

"Don't think about them as seducing, more like….just being forward as who I am." Shoko said pulling out some lemon candy from her pocket. "Here, open wide sweetie."

Bubblegum sighed at her incorrigible friend but opened as Shoko dropped it in her mouth before she started sucking on it. She grimaced as she tasted how sour it was and puckered her lips. " _Ptoo_ y, Bleck!"

"What? Don't tell me you never had anything sour before." Shoko said before trying a piece herself. "It's not that bad."

"It's just so….bitter." she got out while trying to suck on it more. "It's like lightning in my mouth. No wonder the lemon candies are so crazy."

"Well if you don't get use to just some lemon candy, that's gonna be hard when you get that lemon dude up and running. Lemons are naturally sour, but add some sugar and it's not half bad."

"That's why I need to try and help Lemongrab become sour, but still sweet. Maybe I need to add more sweetness, a little over half in his genetic structure shouldn't be too much right? Unless…"

"What? You got something in that big brain of yours?"

"Maybe. Let me up."

The two went to the royal candy vault with an intense amount of security. Several banana guards were around and saluted at seeing the princess and Shoko as they walked up to a large metal door.

"You sure you wanna do this PBubs?"

"Yes." she said before opening the door and revealed the Baker's Shard. "The regular candy in my lab hasn't worked, so I need to try and go for something bigger and more potent."

"But the baker's shard? That stuff is really concentrated."

"I only need a small piece, a shard of the shard." she walked over while putting some lead covered gloves on and pulled out a chisel and hammer. "Guards, stand back and get behind the warning shields, even a little of this getting into you might be too much."

"What about me?" Asked Shoko.

"You'll be fine, think of this stuff as... radiation for candy peeps. Only instead of making us weaker it kinda supercharges us." she replied before slowly breaking a piece off. "But if it gets in your mouth then your teeth might fall out from sugar overload."

"Dang, with something as dangerous as that you should make a stronger vault, or at least put in some booby traps."

"It has crossed my mind." she said holding the piece she chipped off. "But I never got around to it."

"I'm just saying, that thing might end up stolen and sold on some shady market, like my arm. They sell just about anything."

"If this piece helps with Lemongrabs creation, then I can get to installing tighter security right after. Let's go."

That night they went back to the lab where PB was working on a full size humanoid candy citizen. This time she made the head that came to a nub at the top. "Okay let's see if this works." she held the piece up and began to slowly lower it into the body.

"I still think you should have tested it first."

"Sometimes you must taken an active approach with stuff like this and have a little faith. I'm at least 76% sure this will work out the way I hope and not level the entire Kingdom along with a small chunk of OOO."

"Say what?" she spoke as they saw the piece slowly get absorbed into the body while seeing the spot glow slightly.

"HIT THE DECK!" The princess shrieked and pulled Shoko under the table before it's shook. "Shoko, if we die I just want you to know, every time you leave on an adventure I'm scared you won't come back! You're the only real friend I have that didn't make from a test tube or pulled out of an oven!"

"Ah ha! I knew you'd be scared and lost, but since we're being honest and junk, I'm the one taking your panties half the time!"

"What?!" Bonnie yelled as the shaking got more intense.

"They're just so soft! Also it helps me think of you when I get into a really intense fight, I'm sorry!"

"That explains why I've lost over a dozen pairs! Not that it matters now." she said and hugged Shoko. "Goodbye old friend!"

"I love you Bonnie!" Shoko replied and hugged back.

Suddenly the shaking stopped leaving the two quivering and blinked while sharing a glance with each other.

"Are we dead? Did we die?" Shoko asked still clinging to her friend.

"No, otherwise our body parts would be all over the place."

"Oh…" she said as the two separated before Bonnie slugged her shoulder. "Ow! Yeah, okay, I deserved that."

"Let's have a look and see how he turned out." Bonnie said running some scans on the body.

"So... about the hole stealing your panties thing-"

"You can keep'em, no telling what you've done in them, plus your big butt probably stretched out the elastic."

"Hey! My rear is normal size." she shot back before curiosity got the better of her and she moved her hands to her hips to see how wide they were.

"Huh, sour levels have dropped significantly and Sweet levels have risen dramatically. I think we might have done it. But we'll only know for sure after we bring him to life." spoke Bubblegum while reading the bodies levels with a small gadget.

"Hold on, we should tie him down, can't be too careful." spoke Shoko before moving to the counter and grabbing some rope. She then tossed one end to Bubblegum and the two proceeded to bind the body. When it was done she stepped back. "Alright, go right ahead."

The princess nodded before pouring some of her candy life formula on the head. She watched and waited as it stayed still. Then a face formed and it's eye opened. "Hello there."

The new lemon candy being blinked and smiled before giggling. "Are you my mother?"

"It worked!" Bubblegum cheered. "Tell me, how are you feeling?"

"I feel….okay, yes."

"Is he gonna go bouncing off the walls?" asked Shoko.

"I don't think so, untie him Shoko."

She moved up and started to undo the ropes before stepping back as he slowly sat up. "That's right, no sudden movements."

He looked around with a smile. "Where am I?"

"The Candy Kingdom." replied PB with a smile. "Today is the day you officially became born. And after a bit of education you will become the Earl of my kingdom."

"Earl? What is...an earl?"

"You'll be in charge when I'm indisposed." she replied while patting his head. "It'll be a tough job, but with enough time and effort, I think you'll do fine. You just need a little guidance."

"Okay yes, sounds like fun." he smiled clapping his hands. "I'll do you proud."

"Just remember this though, everyone is meant to be treated kindly, if you treat them kind then they'll do the same to you."

"Okay, good, kindly. I think I can do that. Do it real good."

"Good, I'll show you around." PB said. "First step of running a kingdom is knowing it inside and out."


	5. Chapter 5

Royal screw ups

chapter 5

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We find ourselves back at the candy kingdom again, except this one looked more built up than before with more citizens going about their day inside.

Princess Bubblegum was driving along the street in a pink convertible dressed in an overcoat with a pair of boots, a leather cap, goggles, and a pair of driving gloves. She exited the city walls and made her way out towards the cemetery and stopped. She lifted her goggles and looked around before spotting a pink shape. "There you are." she muttered letting out a sigh and stepped out of her car before heading in the graveyard.

The figure stared down at a small tombstone with the name 'Shoko' on it while PB moved over and put a hand on their shoulder. "Hey Bubblebum."

"I knew I'd find you here, Shoko." she looked at the tombstone with a concerned expression. "You'd think after a few hundred years you'd be over this."

"I know, but it's just so weird, looking at my own grave and all." replied the pink figure who looked like Shoko, except younger, with both arms, the hair was dark violet with the skin color matching PB's, and her wearing clothes similar to the ones she wore when she first arrived at the candy kingdom. "Really makes you think about how we're all destined to die one day."

"Not unless I manage to keep making numerous back up bodies, in which case it's not possible." she replied in a straight voice.

"Hmhmhm… One of these days you're gonna take playing Gob too far. Hopefully I can be there to save your skinny butt when the stuff hits the fan."

"Oh relax." she patted Shoko's back. "You really think I'd do something like that?"

"You saved me from dying by sticking needles in my noggin' and downloading my brains into this candy bod with the soul from the soul stone." spoke Shoko crossing her arms. "You're not that far off."

PB blinked and looked away while coughing. "Let's just consider this more of….a method to keep our friendship going longer."

"So you're working on immortality?"

"I didn't say that." she averted her gaze and rubbed the back of her neck. "Do you still think of yourself as just a copy?"

"Well not really. I mean I know my name, who I am, what I can do, plus it helps to think of this as an upgrade. I mean now I can be mended up with a little chewing gum if I get hurt too bad."

"Yeah its pretty sweet, that's why I like keeping my hair long most of the time. Just bite a bit off the ends, chew, and apply to the wound."

Shoko held her hands up and rubbed them together. "Still, eventually this is gonna go too….you know when I think back on when I was flesh and bone I just….I can't believe all the time I wasted running around OOO fighting monster after monster, exploring on cave after another, for what?"

"For fun." spoke PB while leading Shoko to the car. "You did it because it showed you all the undiscovered areas that have been lost throughout time."

"Still though, all the time I wasted being some hot shot adventurer, it was never enough, I never... never did anything I felt was worthwhile." she sighed while looking down. "What's the point now?"

"Shoko look at me, look at me." PB said making her friend look at her. "You have all the time in the world. I mean look at how long you lived while moping about how you wasted your life, centuries. You possess longevity now, the world is full of opportunities for you to explore you just need to think for a moment about what it is you want to do with your life."

"But what if I can't?"

"It's just like riding a bike, when you fall down you just gotta get back up." she replied while getting Shoko in the car before taking the driver's seat. "What say we relax back at home so you don't go wonking your head up?"

"Yeah, maybe you're right." replied Shoko before feeling the car start up and carry them away from the cemetery and back to the gates where they saw Crunchy running out with a sack.

"You'll never take me alive!" the chocolate chip cookie shouted before he was grabbed by two gumball machine guards with rapiers.

"Continue to resist and you will leave us with no option but to use force."

"Nice job guys, what did he steal this time?" PB asked.

"Some of the treasure from the castle's vault."

"And the milk from your fridge." The other guard said.

She sighed while Shoko got out and walked over while Crunchy struggled against the guards. "When you gonna learn that crime doesn't pay?" she said before taking the sack and went back to the car as the cookie was dragged off. "Man PB, I still can't believe that guy use to be your cousin."

"Sometimes I've wondered on whether or not I should erase that part from my memory since I kinda feel bad for them."

"Hey, your experiences are what make you who you are, your mistake was making them older than you. Besides they tried to make you like that." pointed out Shoko while they they resumed making their way to the castle. "I mean sure you get messages on stuff you can fix, but if you start tinkering around with time travel this early and fix every itty bitty thing, then that's gonna smack you in the face, and I mean hard."

"The sad part is I was still young when I made them. I was so desperate for family I couldn't see what was going on right in front of me." she remarked while looking down. "If I used my head more I wouldn't have put the candy kingdom and even Neddie in so much trouble. It's weird what you'll do, just to start a family."

"Well don't worry, you still got me." smiled Shoko draping her arm over Bonnibel's shoulders before going over what Bonnie said. 'Start a family.'

"Yeah, you're right." nodded PB as they walked into the castle. "You and me are a great team."

They used the elevator to head to the top floor where a small candy corn mouse was sleeping in it's cage before slowly waking up as it heard the ding and saw the two enter.

"So what do you feel like having for dinner?" Asked PB. "Chocolate omelette? Peppermint souffle?" she asked taking off her gloves.

"PB?"

"Yeah?"

"I want a baby."

The princess flinched and dropped her gloves. She looked at Shoko who had a dead serious expression and felt her mouth drop open. "W...What?"

"I know, it's out of nowhere but….I mean thinking back on what you said about what you said about starting a family it could be just what I'm looking for." she replied while looking down.

"Shoko….you DO realize what that means right?" asked Bubblegum. "I mean, I already told you I wasn't into girls, so if we were to raise a little candy bundle together, wouldn't it look….um….out of nowhere?"

"I know but-"

The door burst open and Peppermint Butler ran in. "PRINCESS!"

"What is it?" she asked while Shoko groaned at being cut off.

"There's a fire in the forest that's rapidly approaching!"

The princess rubbed her chin before moving over to her telescope before looking into it and aimed it towards the forest. "There's something out there." She said. "Shoko get the heat resistant suits we may have to confront this head on."

"Can't we just send in some guards with a fire hose? I mean it can't be that bad can it?"

"I don't know what it is, but it would be a good idea to bring some guards just in case."

She sighed. "Alright, but we're continuing our talk when we get back." she said before going to fetch the suits.

It took a few minutes, but after getting the suits on the two headed out with several banana guards who were pulling a cart with a container of water with some hoses as they headed towards the flames.

"What do you think it is, a pyromaniac, reckless camper?"

"It could be anything, even some reckless goblin trying to play a prank, I just hope we have enough water or it might get out of hand and burn all of this down."

"Hey….what's that?" asked Shoko point up ahead with some sign of movement, a light. "It looks like the fire is heading towards us."

"Banana guards! Get the hoses ready."

"Wee-oo, wee-oo, wee-oo!" They sounded as they scrambled to grab the hose, but tripped over one another.

"Tell me again why we didn't bring the Gumball guards instead of these joker's?"

"I told you it makes them feel useful, and the gumball guards work better closer." she whispered before looking back at the approaching flame. "Wait a second…"

Shoko blinked before going wide eyed. "Holy Glob."

The source or the flame was no more than an infant, no doubt from the fire kingdom, that came toddling towards them. It had slightly long hair burning upwards, a red gem in the center of their head with a matching shirt and a magma rock diaper who seemed to be giggling as more trees and leaves caught on fire.

Bubblegum knelt down and picked her up. "A princess? She must've wandered off from her home kingdom."

"Who leaves a princess like this wandering out on her own so she can burn stuff down?" asked Shoko as the toddler smiled while the suit didn't melt or catch on fire while she giggled.

"Her parents must be worried sick." PB said tickling the baby's chin. "We should take her back home."

"Hold up though, if she's the princess who can control fire, then doesn't that mean she's the princess of the fire kingdom? As in the place you said to steer clear from considering the king is pretty high strung?"

"Yeah, he probably doesn't even realize the heir to his kingdom is out here all alone." She said with the baby blowing raspberries.

"If you want us to take her back on our own, what are we gonna do about them?" Shoko whispered gesturing to the guards who were trying to get the hoses to work on the fire with a few getting tangled in it.

"Ugh, I'll...call a Gumball guard." she sighed before holding the toddler towards Shoko. "Can you hold her?"

"Sure, just get that guard out here, and make it five." she replied before taking the princess and looking at her while PB moved away to send the call as the small toddler giggled in her hands. "Aw, aren't you just a little bundle of giggles." She said and poked the toddler's belly. "Boop!" That got the princess to let out a fit of giggles. "So cute." She said while the little ones arms moved around and shot small flames out which ignited a log near her and one landing dangerously close to the foot of a banana guard. "And deadly."

"Ah! Fire! Fire!" cried one who tried moving the hose around, but when the water squirted out it hit him in the face before the hose started whipping about wildly with water spraying out into the air.

"Shoko!" PB scolded.

"Sorry, my bad!" she spoke while seeing some water land on the baby's hair before she stopped giggling and started squirming and crying out with the flames on her growing. "Oh no, it's ok it's ok, no need to get upset." she said trying to dry the water off.

The baby screamed out as more water touched her while shooting more fireballs up which landed around her as the guards jumped before Bubblegum looked at the hose and ran to it before quickly turning the wheel down with the water slowly stopping.

"Man she does not like water."

"Well she is made of fire after all." spoke Bubblegum as the small child started to slowly calm down as Shoko tried rocking her. "Try to keep from exciting her too much, meaning no more 'booping'."

"Right, call the G-men out here and let's get going."

After getting the call out and getting the banana guards to go scour the city for any litter bugs, the two of them headed off while Shoko held the princess who managed to calm down.

"Seriously PB, you really need to demote those banana heads." Shoko said as they walked.

"Shoko I can't just do that." sighed Bubblegum. "I know they're not much when it comes to military or police force, but if I had the gumball guards take over then the candy people might feel a little uneasy. You've seen how fast and accurate they are with their swords, I keep the banana guards seem like the main defense to try and make the citizens feel like they're perfectly safe."

"Safe huh? I asked one to replace the lightbulb in my room. Five minutes later there were dozens in my room and the still couldn't figure out they were trying to put the darn thing in upside down."

"Well I admit they do have a few-"

"And last week I asked if one of them had change for a soda. Ten minutes later and I saw them interrogating Starchy because they thought he stole money from me."

"Well-"

"Oh and just yesterday I tripped right in front of a few of them and they screamed like little girls in fear before rushing me to first aid and bandaged me up like a mummy."

"Alright! Ok you made your point."

"Plus you gotta keep this in mind, if they think everything's fine and no one can get them, won't that make things worse if something DOES happen to go wrong? I'm pretty sure they'd go running around panicking their creamy heads off until they explode. You ever get around to fixing that?"

Bubblegum coughed and cleared her throat. "Well, almost."

"And almost means how long?"

"I'm working on it!" She spoke up.

"So in short, years." remarked Shoko while seeing the toddler grab part of her hair and tug on it curiously. "Hey easy there, don't want you to melt me. PB, are we almost there?"

"Yup." she spoke while seeing the ground turning to burning and barren rock. "These suits should hold out, but maybe you should put your helmet on, if she gets too warm she might start burning through your skin."

The two put their helmets on and made their way through the fire kingdom. They spotted the occasional citizen, but after some minutes they began seeing a city up ahead.

"This place is cray-cray." Muttered Shoko looking at the fire people.

"You said that about the slime kingdom too. Just stay quiet and try not to draw any more unwanted attention to us." Bonnie said before they found the Flame King standing on a hill with a winding path. "Flame King?!"

"What do you want princess of the gum world?" he asked with a frown keeping his back to them.

"We found your lost daughter."

"I...wh-I don't remember losing anything." he replied still not looking at them.

"Oh yeah? Then how come she can do this?" asked Shoko before poking her belly. "Boop."

The baby laughed and shot off more fire.

"Okay fine," he looked back. "I was in fear of one day being usurped so I sent Phoebe to wander the woods, come on.

"Say what!?" Blurted Dhoko. "You...left her out there?"

"Any king worth would do the same thing."

"A psycho would." muttered Shoko while Bubblegum frowned.

"She's just a child, what harm could she do to you? Even if she gets older you're still in charge."

"You don't understand anything. I have been informed that child will have greater powers than I can even dream of. It's merely self preservation, as in keep _myself_ on the throne."

"If you didn't want to lose it, then why have a child in the first place?" frowned Bubblegum with her arms crossed.

"Accidents happen."

"Bonnie, hold the baby." spoke Shoko with gritted teeth and handing the infant to PB

"Shoko?" spoke the princess seeing her walk towards the king. "Wait, what are you doing?"

She growled and climbed up the hill before launching into the air. She let out a battle cry as she went down towards the king who went wide eyed and screamed like a wuss just before she crashed into him. "YOU'RE DEAD!"

"Oh no." PB said covering the baby's eyes making it let out an 'Eh?'.

"You like leaving your baby all alone?! Well then you won't if I turn your arm this way!"

"Ow! That doesn't bend that way!"

"Take this, and this, and one of these!" she called out followed by the Flame King crying out with a small crack. "I'm gonna turn you into a giant flaming pretzel you coward of a king!"

After a few more second of wailing on the king, she walked back over to PB and dusted off her hands. "Let's get out of this dump."

The princess nodded before they turned and walked away while seeing Shoko let out a deep sigh. "Are you gonna be alright?"

"Yeah, that felt really good. Um, should we be concerned about going to war?"

"Well, ordinarily I'd say yes a hundred times, but maybe we can use this." remarked Bonnie while rocking the toddler in her arms who smiled. "If he's scared of his daughter taking the throne from him, he may try to ignore her or have her extinguished. That's why I'm going to send out word to the other nearby lands, that way if he does anything we'll have some allies to assist us. Besides with the gumball guards and guardians we should be safe."

"Good point." she replied while rubbing her hands. "Sorry I went overboard there, but...well you probably already know why."

"Yeah, did you picture your parents the whole time?"

"Still am, think I should go back there just to make sure?"

"No, let's just get out of here."

Later as they were halfway home the baby was sleeping in Shoko's arms with the woman looking down at it. "PB, does she need that jewel in her head to live?"

"I'm not sure, I'll have to run some tests to see if it's imbedded into her skin just to be sure."

Shoko looked down and lifted an arm with a deep breath before reaching down to the jewel and plucked it from her head with little to no effort. The only reaction from the child was a small shift in movement before settling. "Huh, guess it was just a way to tell she was royalty."

"Well hold onto it, I don't want her losing it. She might not grow up there, but I want to make sure everyone knows who she is." frowned PB while looking up at the sky. "Plus, I've been thinking on what you said earlier."

"Yeah me too." She said before handing the gem to Bonnie. "I know you have your reasons Bonnie, but I don't want her to know where she came from. If she ever found out that….donk brain is her father, she might end up wanting to be like him."

"That's gonna be pretty hard considering her hair is nothing but fire."

"As far as she knows her parents are dead. Extinguished in a sudden rainstorm. That's plausible right?"

PB raised an eyebrow. "So you wanna lie completely about who she really is while waiting till she's older or someone yaps before she finds out? That doesn't sound like it's gonna blow up in your face?"

"I know Bonnie, I….I promise I'll tell her when she's older." she looked away. "I mean, if she grows up around a better home with better people, then maybe she won't be as mad when she learns the truth. Come on Bonnie, do you wanna see a kid like this end up like that...donk brain?"

"No, I guess not." admitted the princess while they reached the kingdom. "Maybe if we work extra hard we can even help out with her power. Like maybe some sort of headband to keep her power limited so she doesn't accidentally burn anything down. Of course we will have to fireproof a room for her, make a lava bath, and heat resistant windows."

"What about a name?" asked Shoko as they walked down the street with some citizens noticing the baby and were stumped. "I mean, I get she's the Flame Princess, but we don't even know her real name."

"Unless I'm mistaken, the Flame king called her, Phoebe."

"Wait, when did he say that?"

"Right before he said he left her to wander the woods."

"Oh right….guess I didn't notice when I heard that." admitted Shoko with a chuckle. "Phoebe it is."

When they got back into the castle they set Phoebe down on the table which was heat proof while Bonnie went ahead to start working on blueprints as Shoko herself sat down to try and keep the toddler entertained.

"You know for a tiny ball of destruction she sure is playful."

"Well that's to be expected, it's a natural instinct since she's still developing and learning about everything around her. Just don't get her too excited, and don't go overboard with the 'booping'."

"Yes Mom." Shoko rolled her eyes. She grabbed Phoebe's hands and made it seem like she was reaching up a little making her giggle. "Little Miss Sciencey is trying to sound smart, isn't she?" she cooed.

"Teeheeheehee!" laughed Phoebe while Bubblegum couldn't help but shake her head with a smile.

"I am not changing those diapers." Said Peppermint Butler walking by and up to Bonnie. "Princess, this necklace is vibrating."

Bubblegum took it while seeing a message project out. ' _You might encounter a small child with a gem, she's the Flame Princess of the Fire Kingdom. Originally we would imprison her in a cage to keep her power from overloading since her core could destroy the planet if she gets too mad or out of control. That's why it's imperative you go an alternative route when dealing with her, just don't treat her like a criminal, she's just a baby.'_

Bonnibel looked over at the baby giggling and smiled fondly. 'I don't think we'll have that problem.'


	6. Chapter 6

Royal screw ups

chapter 6

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Years went by Since Phoebe was adopted by Shoko. She did everything in her power to give the young fire elemental a better childhood than her own, giving as much love and care as possible. She'd keep an eye on her and help her calm down if her powers went out of control,PB even assisted in making a everything in her room fireproof.

They still required special suits to convey physical affection, but it didn't matter. Of course Peppermint Butler would say otherwise considering the times Phoebe would nearly melt him when she wanted to play.

The young girl was now five years old and as innocent as could possibly be. She sat in her room playing with her fireproof dolls when Shoko walked in wearing a heat resistant suit.

"Okay Phoebe, time for bed."

"Aww." the little girl whined. "But I'm not sleepy."

"You need your sleep." she said lifting the little girl up and carried her to bed. "How about a story?"

"Okay mommy. Can you tell me the story of the Cold War?" Phoebe smiled.

"Again?" Shoko questioned. "I've told that to you for about...the last year."

"Pleeeaaase?" Phoebe pleaded with a bat of her eyelashes.

"Ugh okay." Shoko submitted and smiled at her little girl. "Years ago the Fire Kingdom declared war on the Candy Kingdom after a dispute. They brought the full force of their military might. In response, the Gumball Guards were dispatched to defend the kingdom, they took their rapiers and drew lines in the dirt that made one big line. The line represented a point they would not let the invaders cross. When the battle began, the Fire Kingdom solder's lava rock armor was no match for the anodized steel of their opponents blades. They cut a swath of destruction through the attackers defences, taking out their weapons, leaving them exposed and shivering with fear. It was because of how they looked that we call it the Cold War."

"The Candy Kingdom is the best." Phoebe said softly while nuzzling in her bed. "The Fire Kingdom stinks."

"Well trust me, you're not wrong there." Shoko rubbed Phoebe's hair. "But keep this in mind, even the ones who stink can still be dangerous and strong, besides, some of the people there might not have been on board with it as much as some people like to think."

"Mommy….Why can't anyone touch me without these funny suits is there something wrong with me?" asked Phoebe tilting her head.

Shoko stiffened up hearing that and let out a sigh. "Phoebe, you know both me and Princess Bubblegum love you very much, right?"

"Uh huh?"

"Well, if you wanna know, there's something about where you came from we didn't tell you. You see... you weren't born here in the Candy Kingdom. You were in fact born... in the Fire Kingdom."

Phoebe gasped while covering her mouth as Shoko looked down. "R….Really?"

"I've just always been afraid to tell see...your father, fearing the responsibilities of being a parent, didn't think he could handle it. So Bonnie and I took you in out of the kindness of our hearts, just before the Cold War. We even raised you as our own. We have no idea what happened to your birth mother." she whispered while rubbing Phoebe's head with said girl looking at the sheets sadly. "But we still love you, and always will. Unlike the Flame King. He sent his own newborn baby into the forest to die."

"He's a meany." she frowned while Shoko held her hands.

"Yes...Yes he is," shoko reached down to brush a few strands of the firey hair oit of her Da that's why whenever he comes by for some diplomatic reason, I don't want you talking to him, ever." she leaned down. "Can you promise me that sweetie?"

"I promise mommy."

"That's my girl." she patted her head and stood up. "Now you get plenty of shut eye and I'll see you tomorrow."

"Nighty night." Phoebe replied and closed her eyes.

Shoko smiled with a warm fuzzy feeling in her chest before leaving the room. She took off the protective suit then headed to Bonnibel's lab where said scientist was currently jotting down notes on a clipboard with a lollipop and ice cream cone sitting on a couch.

"So you two believe natural creation for a child should be done more than artificial, correct?"

"Yes princess." said the lollipop girl.

"Alright." she marked that down. "Well I'd say that should conclude this little chat, you can return to what you were doing beforehand."

"Thank you Princess."

Shoko stood aside as the two walked out and saw Bonnie put the clipboard with numerous other stacks of paper. "Remind me again what you're doing?"

"Getting the opinions of my citizens so I can, in your words, 'stop playing Glob'." she stated. "Did you put Phoebe to bed?"

"Yup, had to tell her about the Cold War just to get her to relax, again."

"You'd think after three years she'd get tired of that story."

"Same, but then she asked me a certain….question."

"Don't tell me she finally put two and two together?" Asked Bonnie picking up the papers and carried them to her desk.

"Well half and half," Shoko shrugged walking up to the desk. "I told her the story we came up with on how we adopted her, but she doesn't know she's the princess. I made sure to tell the truth but kept it vague."

She sighed and rubbed her head. "I swear, I didn't think trying to keep a child from the truth would be this nerve racking. Any second I'm worried she'll find out and go wild in anger."

"Well how's that headband for her powers going?"

"It's a little more difficult than originally anticipated. I'm still having difficulty trying to find a material she won't burn through from her increased emotional state."

"Well can't you use something like the stuff made out of those suits?" Shoko asked.

"If my scans of her from regular check ups are correct then it seems her elemental matrix is unstable, if a boy so much as tries to kiss her she'll burn a hole right through the core of the planet then be thrown back and forth by the planet's gravity until she burns through it from the inside out. The material to make the band would need to be durable enough to handle the heat of the Sun."

"Wow, point taken." she looked at the paper pile. "So wait, you asked everyone about the whole making more Peeps thing?"

"Yup, and considering it seems to be unanimous, I'm going to try and work towards functioning parts so they CAN, but I'm also going to make sure they get the proper lessons so they make too many candy babies."

"Wow, finally giving them the sex talk?"

"If you wanna be so blunt, yes."

"I can already see the banana guards needing a couple just to get the gist of that stuff and Lemongrab, he's totally gonna freak."

"Did I hear someone say my name?" asked the Earl poking his head in.

"Yes we did." Shoko replied. "Whats up. Lemon-G?"

"Um, the ceiling?"

"I think she meant what brings you here?" spoke Bonnie while Shoko chuckles.

"We might have a problem. Something appeared on the kingdoms proximity alarm. But every banana guard sent to investigate was… Well, they were frozen."

"Wait, you mean like in fear?" asked Shoko.

"Oh no, I mean quite literally frozen solid, they were encased in frozen water keeping them in place." he said as a Banana Guard was wheeled by the door on a gurney.

"S-S-S-So c-c-c-c-c-cold." he got out while shivering and looking half frozen.

Shoko opened her mouth to speak, but went quiet when Bonnie pointed a finger at her.

"Don't start Shoko. Not one word." she warned not wanting to hear her friends insults.

"Oh fine." she huffed with a hand on her hip.

They went down to the infirmary where the princess looked over a number of Banana Guards. "What could be doing this to them?" wondered Bonnie trying to sooth one of guards.

"A creature from the frozen lands perhaps?" Lemongrab spoke.

"No, I've been around that area." Shoko replied. "Nothing there with this kinda power. At least, nothing I know of."

"Easy there, you're gonna be ok. Just try and think warm toasty thoughts."

"I've never seen an epidemic like this." said Dr. Ice Cream.

"Can you help them?" asked Shoko.

"I'll do everything in my power." The Dr. Said. "Princess, you don't need to concern yourself. I can handle this."

"No, whatever did this to my banana guards is a danger for the whole kingdom. I'm not going to turn my back if I can do anything to help them. I'm going to change into my fight clothes."

"I'm coming with." spoke Shoko following PB out.

"I'm so mad right now I'm not even going to argue, or even reprimand you for trying to be a perv."

"I'm not trying to peep, I'm serious. Whatever happened is something bad, meaning you're gonna need some backup."

They went to Bonnie's room where she fished out an outfit.

"So what's the plan P-bub?" Shoko asked as Bonnie laid out her cloths on her bed.

"I'm going to head to the spot they were attacked at, see if there's any stuff there that might be a lead to what it is," she spoke taking off her pants, "and then we go from there."

"Better pack something that can dish out some major heat. Like a flamethrower."

She reached for her shirt and started taking it off. "I think I have someth-" she stopped and froze when she saw something at the window in the reflection of her vanity mirror. "Hey!" she shouted as she turned making whatever it was duck. "Guards!"

Several ran in quickly with spears before suddenly stopping and dropped their mouths with wide eyes.

"Huh?" she looked down and blushed before yanking the blanket off the bed to cover herself.

"Snap out of it pervs!" shouted Shoko. "There's a sleazy peeper outside!"

"Hey!" came another voice. "Who you callin' sleazy?"

"Go get them!" frowned Bonnie with a bright blush as the guards scrambled over the window and opened it before they took turns jumping out.

"Just when I thought they couldn't get any dumber." Shoko face palmed. "I'll go help them, you can put something on or stay like that, I don't mind really." she winked with a grin before rushing to help when suddenly a gust of cold wind knocked her back and blew the guards back in the room through the window.

Bonnie braced herself against the icy wind. She shivered and saw a man with a white beard, yellow crown with red gems, and with a dark blue robe on walked in with light blue skin and a long nose.

"Fools! You dare challenge the Ice King!" he declared with a frown while Shoko shook her head.

She narrowed her eyes before spotting a spear.

"What do you want?" asked Bonnie in anger. "Are you the one freezing my Banana guards?"

"What? You mean those annoying yellow guys?" the bearded man asked. "The ones goin' Wee-oo wee-oo wee-oo?"

"Yes."

"Wow, those were lame-os." he said before smiling with a shrug. "But yeah that was me." he chuckled and floated around.

"Why are you attacking my people without reason?"

"I was looking for you princess." he said and wiggled his eyebrows at her. "And I can tell from your lack of clothes you're thinkin' what I'm thinkin'."

She stiffened and held the blanket closer to herself. "Guards!" she screamed in panic. "GUARDS!"

"Mhhh… I like where this is going, I mean I think I do." he said with a look of uncertainty before a spear flew past his face. "Woah!"

"Don't even think about it!" yelled Shoko before grabbing two more spears and charging at him with a battle cry and tried swiping at him.

He moved around the room trying to avoid the spears. "Okay, so I caught you at a bad time. I gotta leave anyway so I'll come back when you're more calmed down." he stated and flew out the window.

Shoko ran over and tried throwing the spears at him. "Get back here you pervert! Ugh, what a creep." she said before she rushed to Bonnie's side. "You okay?"

"Yes, he didn't touch me, but you're one to call him a pervert when you didn't try to look away before I started taking these off." she said grabbing her pants and held them up.

"Ok, you make a fair point, but still, maybe we need to switch out the security here for some Gumball guards and keep them for other stuff. On the upside though, this makes things easier. Now we just gotta find that doofus and mess his stuff up."

"Let him go for now. After nearly getting shish kebabbed I don't think he'll try anything again soon. Besides we don't know where he went, do you?"

"Um….no."

"Let's get some sleep, all this excitement is enough for me." remarked Bonnibel getting under the covers.

"Alright, see you tomorrow P-brains." Shoko waved ushering the guards out.

The next morning Shoko was making Phoebe's breakfast. Said girl was sitting in a fireproof chair while kicking her feet back and forth under the table.

"Mommy, if I'm from the fire kingdom am I gonna be a meanie like them when I grow up?"

"Trust me Phoebe, the day you become like them is the day Bonnie becomes a man." Shoko said just before Bonnie walked in.

"*yawn* morning."

"Morning sleepyhead. Sleep well after the...uh," she glance at Phoebe. "Incident last night?"

"It could be better, morning Phoebe." she yawned while walking by the young girl and opened the freezer before letting out a scream.

"Morning princess." Greeted the Ice King wedged in the icebox with a grin. "Did you have sweet dreams about me?"

She jumped back while Shoko went wide eyed and Phoebe gasped.

"Phoebe! Stranger danger!"

The little girl screamed and ran to hide while the Ice King tried to pry himself out if the ice box.

"Heh heh. A lot easier getting in than out." he grunted making the fridge wobble and bounce before he popped out and face planted on the floor.

"Have you been in there since yesterday?" questioned PB while Shoko ran to grab a kitchen knife.

"Actually I snuck in around three in the A.M." he said standing up and dusted himself off. "the security in this place stinks."

"Well you won't have to worry long, you'll be in a cell." spoke Shoko pointing the knife at his head.

"Easy with that thing lady, you could really hurt someone with that-Oh wait you're planning to hurt ME with it aren't you?"

"Wow, he's a dumb dumb." shoko whispered to Bonnie. "Okay creep. you better step back, you're not gonna hurt Princess Bubblegum on my watch."

"Hurt her? No, I don't want to hurt her." he said waving his hands. "I'm just going to take her back to the ice kingdom to be my wife."

"So you want to kidnap her?"

"Well if you wanna get technical-"

"Not happening!" frowned Bonnie. "Shoko, he's all yours, get him out of here."

"Come on you old creep, start moving. Or I'll pop you in your giant schnozzola." she warned.

"Yeesh, you're pretty feisty, I kinda like that. Are you her sister?"

"No, best bud."

The Ice king frowned. "Sorry lady but I'm looking for princesses so...zap!" he spoke and fired a bolt of ice magic from his fingers and froze her hand in block of ice.

"What the-hey!" she held it and tried waving it around before he fired some magic that froze Bonnie's legs making her scream in panic.

Phoebe heard the scream and looked out from her hiding place and gasped.

"Now princess, time to take you home." he smiled moving over before picking the girl up and set her over his shoulders before dodging Shoko trying to hit him with her frozen hand.

"Put her down!"

"Geez you are really getting annoying. ZAP!" he blasted her with magic that froze the rest of her.

Phoebe was horrified at the scene before she rushed out. "Leave my Mommy alone!" she screamed beating her little flaming fist against his backside.

he blinked before turning to Phoebe with a frown. "Hey now, what's the big-?" he saw the fire spread over his tunic and dropped PB as he screamed running around the kitchen flailing his arms. "My hams! I'm on fire! I'm on fire! Put me out! Someone put me out."

"Are you ok?" she asked walking over to PB.

"Don't worry about me. Help your mom by melting the ice. Like you do with Pep Butt."

She nodded and ran over before putting her hands on the ice before it started to slowly melt.

Soon enough Shoko was free and smiled at her daughter. "Good girl."

"Are you ok mommy?"

"I will be when I clobber this ice dork." she said and glared at the Ice king who put his butt in the sink after he filled it with water to douse the flames.

"Ahhh, much better." he sighed before seeing the look on Shoko's face. "Ho boy."

"You're dead." she snarled holding up the knife.

"AAAAHH!" the Ice King screamed as he ran through the hall. "Not my hams!"

"You better run!" Shoko screamed while Phoebe melted the ice holding Bonnie.

"Thanks Phoebe, that feels so much better." she stood up and dusted the frost off. "If I were wearing a protective suite I'd give you a big hug."

"You're welcome."

Shoko walked back practically fuming. "He got away again! I should have clipped his beard when I had the chance." she growled and punched the wall.

"Calm down Shoko, the important thing is that he didn't cause much damage, but just to be safe, we might need to replace the fridge. But i don't think we've seen the last of him."

Bonnie was right of course. The Ice King showed up on a daily basis for the next week, day or night. It got so bad every room had to be examined by Gumball Guards before the princess entered and it was starting to wear on her patience

"All clear princess." the guard said.

"Thank you." she walked in and shut the door with a sigh. "This is getting ridiculous. I can't keep living like this." she rubbed the bridge of her nose before a knock at the door made her jump.

"Bonnibel?" Shoko said from the other side. "You alright?"

"Yeah I'm okay." she said reaching for the knob and opened the door. "Come in quick."

Shoko headed in and shut the door while locking it. "How you holding up?"

"Well I don't know how it could get worse." she remarked

"I kinda think you're jinxing yourself with that phrasing." Shoko said to her friend. "We gotta do something, we almost lost you three times this week. And you're constantly looking over your shoulder expecting him to pounce."

"Oh Glob, I wish the crystal would hurry up and tell me something, I mean my future self must have found an answer to something like this, right?"

"Didn't you once say that tampering with the time space continuum could cause new event to transpire? Maybe your future self never met this guy. Or maybe it's triggered by a certain situation." Shoko stated.

"Well if I can't find some way to get him to stop, I might do something drastic, and the last thing I need is messing up the future more than needed." she frowned. "I do not want to find him in my bathtub again. He must be generating his ice powers from somewhere."

"Only question is where? Maybe it's something under his tunic, like a necklace or amulet."

"I thought of that but then it occurred to me, we'd have to strip him down." she said before they shuddered. "So I'd rather try and find the answer another way. And I think I have a plan and you're gonna love this one because we're going to be using only Gumball guards."

"Loving it already."

"Okay, we have a small team of guards hidden from sight and when he shows up they strike an pre-designated locations on his person. Non-lethal of course."

"Aw."

"Hey, I don't wanna kill him, just discover how he's getting his power. You should know I don't wanna kill anyone after these past three hundred years you've known me. Now here's the part you're gonna hate. We need bait."

"Why would I hate…..oh no. Nope, uh uh, not gonna happen, no way, not in a million years."

"I know you don't like the idea, but if he tries to make an effort to get away, you have a better chance at getting the first strike in when he's not expecting it."

"Uuuuugh! You are _sooo_ gonna owe me when this is over."

"Tell you what, if it works as planned you can sketch me naked again."

"Make it several portraits and you got yourself a deal."

"You drive a hard bargain." sighed the princess. "Alright, deal."

Later that night in the topiary garden, the gumball guards were hidden, waiting to strike. And standing in the center was who most would think was the princess, but was in fact Shoko in Bonnie's clothes while her face was red with blush. 'Grob I loathe wearing a dress.'

"Is everything ready?" asked PB through an earpiece Shoko was wearing.

"Yeah, yeah. You are going to be doing some major posing when this is over." she spoke firmly. "Any sign of the dingus? This is humiliating."

"Nothing, nothing, noth-wait, I see something."

"What is it?"

"It's the 'dingus'." PB said seeing the Ice king approaching. "Look Princessy. Try to sell it."

Shoko groaned and started to dance around as several Gumball Guards spotting the man flying over with his beard somehow acting like wings.

"What are you doing?"

"Looking Princessy." Shoko said.

"Why is it people think princesses are always dancing for no reason?" muttered Bonnibel with a groan before the Ice King slowly landed behind Shoko since she had to try and keep her face somewhat hidden with her hair. "Okay everyone on the the count of three. One….two….thr-"

"SIMON!"

"Wha-?" the king looked around just before his crown was snatched from his head. "Ahh, my source of power!" he cried reaching for his head before a figure descended holding his crown. They had grey skin, obviously female, long black hair, with pointed ears. She wore a pair of boots with skinny jeans, a grey crop top and a denim jacket.

"Uh, eh heh heh, hi Marcy." he spoke nervously with a wave. "Funny seeing you here."

"It's not funny to me." she replied before looking at Shoko. "I'm sorry about him, he tends to get too excitable when it comes to princesses."

"Yeah about that, not a princess." Shoko said turning to face them.

The Ice King gasped seeing her face. "Deception!"

PB sighed and signalled the guards who walked out with her doing the same as the girl looked around in surprise. "She's not the princess, that would be me."

"Aw what! This was a trap?" she questioned and looked at Simon. "How long have you been coming here?!"

"Well not that long. I mean, it's not like I've been here for a couple of weeks….it was one week."

"Nnngh Simon!" she groaned through her teeth and face palmed.

"Hang on, his real name is Simon? Wow, he really is a dingus." remarked Shoko.

They all returned to the castle where they went to talk.

"So this whole time I thought he was at home he was actually trying to kidnap you?" asked the new girl to the princess as the sat at a dining table with Peppermint Butler pouring them drinks.

"Yup, and trust me, it was hard to deal with it. He managed to hide himself in all sorts of nooks and crannies."

"I'm a wiz at hide and seek." the Ice King said standing in a corner and pointed to the girl with his thumb. "Marceline hardly ever finds me."

"Face the wall Simon, you're in timeout." the girl named Marceline spoke to him.

He pouted and crossed his arms while looking at the corner.

"So care to explain what's going on, and just who you two are?" questioned Shoko.

"Right, gotta remember my manners. I'm Marceline, the Vampire Queen." she said taking her drink

*CRASH*

They all looked to Peppermint Butler who had dropped the tray in shock. He the dropped to his knees and bowed to Marceline. "My lady." he said in awe. "I am not worthy."

"Uh….what?" spoke Shoko. "What's up with him PB?"

"Remember, he's got a thing for 'The Dark Arts'?"

"Oh yeah!" she snapped her fingers. "My bad, I kinda zoned out on that part."

Marceline smiled and picked him up. "Well aren't you a little a gentleman."

"I apologize for the lack of proper tribute. If I had known before hand I would have prepared a better offering. I have no blood or anything for you to feast on."

"Oh I wouldn't say anything." she said in a tone one would say to a lover before letting out a hiss and sank her fangs into him.

"WAHH!" he let out while Bonnie and Shoko stood up before she began making a slurping sound and they saw the red stripes on him begin to slowly go towards her fangs and turn grey.

"Ah, much better. I needed a pick me up, thanks little guy." she smiled setting him down before he wobbled and fell on his back with a groan.

"What the balls did you just do!" shouted the princess.

"Chill out, I only drained the red coloring from him. It's just as easy as drinking blood. He'll be fine." waved off Marceline while a few of the gumball guards put their hands on their sabers.

"Thank...you...My Lady."

"Someone fetch the Spoon of Prosperity!" Bonnie ordered.

A guard ran out and quickly brought the spoon back. "Here you go princess."

She went to her butler and placed it on his nose before he returned to full color. "You okay Pep?"

"Yes princess, I'm feeling a-ok. Infact this is by far the best day of my life." he smiled and laughed like a little school girl. "Oh, I need to immortalize this moment. Wait here while I go get my camera." he said and ran out of the room.

"Hahaha, he's a weird little candy man."

"So, just to be sure, you drank just the color red?" questioned PB. "Is that all you drink or can you still consume blood?"

"I could if I wanted to. But I choose not too." Marceline answered. "Its how I keep in such good shape." she said sliding her jacket off her shoulders and down to her elbows to show off her toned body.

Shoko's cheeks turned a darker shade of pink before looking away.

"Be careful or my friend might stare." teased Bonnie.

"You would too if you were a lesbian." Shoko spoke.

"Oh, you're one too?" replied Marceline with a smile. "I've been around so long it's hard to actually meet someone else who has the hots for girls like me."

"You're a lesbian too?" asked the princess.

"You bet your crown i am." nodded Marceline.

"But didn't you use to date that guy Marcy?" asked the Ice King "what was his name? Bash, Dash, Crash?"

"It's Ash, and he's the whole reason I went to girls in the first place. He was a complete and total jerk, so that's why I dumped him and swore off men."

"Wait, I thought someone was born to like the same gender." spoke Bonnie turning to Shoko. "Isn't that what you told me?"

"Most of the time people don't know where they stand sexually. Sometimes it takes a little experimenting to figure out what gets them off. They could like girls, or guys or even both."

"Does that mean you're gonna stare?" teased Marceline while taking off her jacket and began stretching her arms out above her head. "I won't get mad if you do."

Shoko turned her head and stared at the girl's body with a grin.

"Careful you don't drool." chuckled Bonnibel. "Just so you know Marceline, she has a kid."

"Relax, I'm not looking for a relationship. Besides, trying to deal with a kid sounds about easier compared to keeping an eye on Simon over there."

"What exactly is your relationship with him? Is he your uncle?" Bonnie questioned.

"Or a misshapen snowman you brought to life with that crown?" Shoko asked.

She lost her smile and looked down. "Neither, in a way, you could consider him my father figure. At least, he use to be."

"Use to be?"

"Yeah." she nodded before looking at the crown with a scowl. "But it all changed, the more he used this dumb thing. He was once a brilliant and loving man, he even theorized it was possible to open a window in time to a past age."

Shoko and Bubblegum shared a look while the vampire stood up and gripped the crown.

"But...the more he used this stupid Crown the more it took his sanity as a price." she looked ready to break it and started pacing. "Centuries ago after the mushroom wars when I was just a little girl, me and Simon had no home, no friends, no family, just each other when we had to wander across the land just to survive."

"You were there in the time of the great mushroom wars?" asked Bubblegum

"Well Simon called it the Nuclear war, but there was nothing _great_ about it. Millions of lives were lost to the atomic bombs that were launched." she hissed. "After that, we had to keep on moving and deal with all sorts of weird nasty mutants and stuff, but the worst part was every time we were in trouble, Simon used this crown to use it's magic in order to protect me, but at the cost of his own mind. Now all that's left is the Ice King."

"What about...your birth parents?" wondered Shoko.

"They're dead." she replied quickly. "Simple as that."

"We're sorry to hear that." spoke Bubblegum with concern. "Shoko and I know what it's like to be on our own at a young age."

"Yeah, back when I was a kid. I was dropped off in front of a dojo by my own parents, after they cut off my own arm and sold it for a laptop."

Marceline blinked and looked between them. "But, you both look like sisters, and you still have both arms."

"I wasn't always candy, I use to be meat and bones before miss science nerd here put my brains in this 'Gumbod' a few centuries ago."

"Wait….say what?"

"She liked to play Glob."

"Would you stop saying that. You're my best friend, if there was a way to save you you knew I was gonna take it."

"Wow, you guys are bananas." Marceline said. "But as much fun as this has been, I should get Simon home to the Ice Kingdom."

"You're gonna hide my crown again aren't you?" he questioned sadly.

"I'm surprised it took you decades to find it in the fridge crisper, now say you're sorry to these nice girls for all the trouble you put them through."

"I don't wanna." he huffed.

Marceline walked over and pinched his ear.

"Ow! Owowowow, okay! Okay!"

"Go on, say it."

"Princess I'm sorry for all the I've done. I'm just so lonely and I've admired you from afar for so long." he spoke while looking away. "Happy?"

"What do you mean 'admired from afar'?" Shoko asked.

"See that ice mountain out the window, the one that looks like it has a face in it? That's my place. Got a telescope and everything up there."

"Wait, you've been literally spying on me? From miles away?"

"You and every other princess within view but you were the closest."

Bubblegum shuddered while Shoko sent him a glare.

"Alright let's go you." Marceline said opening the window. "Time to go home."

"Can I come visit again?"

"Not on your life." Shoko said.

"Awwww." he whined before Marceline carried him out and off towards the mountain before Peppermint butler ran in.

"I found the camera. Oh blast it, I'm too late."

"Looks like that's the end of that nuisance." Shoko said with a sigh of relief.

"I don't know, I feel kinda bad for them." Bonnibel said looking at the sky. "I can't imagine what it must feel like to see the one you care about lose their mind and memories, it's actually something I'm worried would happen to me one time, or even you when your memories were downloaded. I wish I knew how to help."

It was at that moment that the gem in her amulet started to vibrate.

"Uh Bonnie? Your gem's calling."

"Seriously, now it's trying to help?" Bonnie berated and opened the amulet so the gem could project its latest message.

" _Future me, if it's come to this next part, then this is by far one of the biggest and most important things to tell you. If you've met Marceline and the Ice King, then I'll make this brief. You have to go back in time to help them."_

"Does she think I've mastered time travel by now?"

"Hold up, looks like there's more."

" _If your curiosity hasn't lead you to pursue time travel you might be able to use the research of the Ice King's former self, Simon Petrikov. But only Simon knows where it is in his home."_

"Does she mean his old house or the mountain?"

"The mountain would be a good place to start."

" _The Crown is the key to bringing Simon back. It's a form of advanced tech that not even I have been able to crack. Hopefully you can, if you can get it away from him."_

"If it's easy to lure him here, it'll be easy to get the crown."

"Yeah, but I doubt he'll just let us tamper with it without trying to take it back, we'll need something to give him in exchange for his cooperation."

"If you try to use me as bait again, you're gonna owe me something more than nude sketches."

"Actually I think I have a better idea. Oh and speaking of the sketches. Since the trap didn't go as planned, the deal is voided." She smiled as she headed out of the dining room.

"Hey! That's not fair!" shouted Shoko chasing after Bonnibel.

The next few days weren't easy for Marceline who had to put up with the Ice King's tantrums after taking his telescope away as punishment.

"Okay Simon, lunchtime." the vampire queen said floating in the living area with a plate of food, which was cut in weird shapes, in hand.

"I'm not hungry." he pouted sitting on the chair of ice while covering his face with a random magazine pretending to read.

*gurgle*

"I can hear your stomach growling." she said. "Come on Simon, you need to eat."

He lowered the magazine past his eyes and looked at her "Are you going to give back my telescope?"

"No." she stated.

"Then there's your answer." he said moving the magazine to block his gaze.

"Ugh, now I know why those retirement home nurses are always so angry." she said pulling up a folding table then put it next to the chair and placed the plate of food on it. "It'll be there if you change your mind."

"Well I'm not gonna change my mind. So there _pffft._ "

"Patience Marcy, patience." she muttered to herself and floated out of the room.

Simon's stomach pleaded for food and when he was sure she wasn't looking he snatched some of the odd shaped foodstuffs and chowed down behind the magazine. "Mhh penguin cuisine."

*knock knock*

"Marceline! Answer the door!" he called out.

"I'm getting it, I'm getting it. Geez." she opened the door and was greeted by Shoko and Bonnie dressed in snow gear.

"Hi Marcy." Shoko spoke. "You look great today."

"Oh, hey there." she greeted back in surprise. "I didn't expect you two paying a visit so soon, or ever for that matter." she shrugged.

"Yeah well the thing is, we want to help you." Bonnie said. "But we need 'Simon's' crown to do it."

"And what for?" she asked suspiciously. "Because I should warn you, losing your sanity isn't the only price to pay from wearing that crown. The beard and pointy nose are part of the package deal."

"We're not gonna wear it, we just need to get it and PB here might be able to fix Simon. You want him back to normal, right?"

"Do I want him back? Of course! But if it's miles away he'll know it's gone and throw a major hissy, maybe even hurt himself."

"Why not just knock him out?" suggested Shoko.

"I don't wanna hurt him, besides his marble bag is half empty as it is, he can't stand to lose more."

"Than it's a good thing we brought something to make it easier." Bonnie said looking back at some hooded figures.

"Wait, who are they?"

"Just let us talk to Simon. I'm sure he'll be more than happy to lend us the crown when he meets them."

The vampire sighed and gestured inside. "Ok, but if it goes south then you'll have to leave."

They entered and Marceline led them to where Simon was sitting in his chair with his plate cleared.

"So you were hungry." said Marceline amusingly.

" No…..It was the penguins."

"Right, it's always the penguins fault." she rolled her eyes with a smirk. "Well if you're done being a brat, someone's here to see you."

"Oh yeah? Who?" he said lowering the magazine and dropped it upon seeing the Princess. "P-P-PRINCESS!" he exclaimed and jumped from his seat.

"That's right, but we brought a few friends who you might like to meet." she said before the first walked up. "Let me introduce to you Carmen."

The figure grabbed her cloak and pulled it off reveal what could only be a clone of Bonnie only this one had a darker almost reddish color with a red salsa dress her hair a darker shade of red than her skin and done up in a bun. "Hola." she spoke wiggling her fingers at him with a giggle.

His eyes widened while the next one took her cloak to reveal another clone of Bubblegum, but with a more yellowish color with yellow hair that stopped neck length. She wore a light tan summer dress and a darker yellow beret. "Bonjourno."

"This here is Fifi. And last but not least. Miko."

The third pulled off her cloak to reveal a blue clone with her hair done in a tail with a kimono that had snowflakes on it. "Konichiwa."

"These lovely ladies are clones of myself with one simple reason to live. Love and obey their master."

"Humina humina humina." muttered Ice King with his mouth dropped open.

"Is she for real?" Marceline questioned Shoko.

"Trust her, she knows what she's doing."

"You can become their master, but only if you let us take your crown." Bonnie said to him. "Deal?"

"W..W...W….W…."

"Hang on." Marceline said and slapped his face to snap him back to reality. "Yo Simon! You hear all that?"

"Y-Yeah… mhhh. They do whatever I say, no questions asked?"

"Within their physical limits, yes."

"And all of this for my crown?"

"Uh huh, all three at your beck and call."

"Princess you got yourself a deal. Take the crown." he smiled taking the crown and handing it to her while staring at the clones with a wide smile.

"Okay ladies, you belong to the Ice King now." Bonnie said before they smiled and ran up to him. "You four have fun now, but not too much." She said before Leaving with Shoko and Marceline.

"You realize that when all this is over you may not get those three back in the same condition or even want them back right?" asked Marceline.

"I'm fully aware of that."

"I kinda feel like that was overboard." remarked Shoko. "I mean, isn't that kinda much? Aren't they like your sisters in a sense?"

"Nah, they're just robots following basic programming." she replied. "You know, you don't have to come with us Marceline."

"You kidding? I wanna see just what you got in mind." she remarked before blinking. "Wait, those were just robots? But they looked and sounded just like you."

"The bodys are clones of me, but they're brains are robotic."

"Are they...anatomically correct?" Marceline questioned

"Down to the last detail."

"Ok then it's probably best I go with you if I my assumptions of what Simon's going to do with them is right."

"Let's just try not to think too hard."

Back at Bonnie's lab, Simon's crown was placed in a tube with a pink liquid and wires attached to it.

"So what are you gonna do?" asked Marceline.

"First I'm going to scan in try and get a feel on how it works." she said looking at the read out that printed from the machine below the tube. "Once I have that understood, I'm going to see if there's anything I can link up to or decipher. From what I can deduce there's circuitry in the crown."

"Wait, for real?" spoke Shoko sitting in a chair. "I thought crowns didn't have stuff like cause it was magic?"

"Magic is science yet to be understood. But even so, this looks like some pretty advanced stuff." she remarked seeing the data. "I've never seen circuitry like this before. But from what I can tell the jewels seem to be the power source to the whole thing. And you wanna know the weirdest thing? They have silicon based genetic code."

"In english." sighed Marceline.

"They were once a part of something alive."

"No way." spoke Shoko. "You mean kinda like organic gems?"

"I'd rather not think about it. But I think I can access the crown with my VR equipment." She said pulling a plug with a wire from the machine and plugged into another one.

"So we're just gonna sit here while you do that?" questioned Marceline.

"There's room for two if you wanna join." She said pulling down a headset. "It's like a video game."

"Huh, well it's been a while, so what the hey." shrugged Marceline before grabbing her own headset and put in on.

"Get ready, we're going in." She said and pulled a lever.

Everything went black before golden walls , red crystals, and green plants formed in a giant labyrinth.

"Woah." spoke Marceline looking around. "Where are we?"

"Inside the crown, but this was not what I was expecting."

"It looks like some weird ruins." remarked Shoko walking around a little.

"But at least it's got a wicked beat." Marceline said after hearing the sound of drums.

"Drums?" spoke Bubblegum surprised before following the sound of it. She rounded a corner and spotted a green reptile the size of a child playing a drum with a large leaf that acted like a cape. "Gah!" she screamed and jumped back.

"AH!" he let out as the other two ran over. "Why are we shouting?" he asked before seeing the other two girls. "Woah, three newbies at once, how'd you manage that?"

"Uh, are you a dinosaur?" asked Marceline. "Who can play drums?"

"I'm a Gunther, who can play drums." he smiled beating the drum rapidly then threw his hands in the air. "Yeah!"

"Well I can tell ya, that's one sweet beat." Marceline said. "But what are you doing here?"

"Oh, well you see I was the first person to put on the crown. It copies the memories of who ever wears it and _whomp_ you end up here."

"For real?" questioned Shoko. "So you mean you wound up growing a beard too and….went nutty?"

"I wanted to help my mentor, Master Evergreen. He made the crown, it was suppose to stop a comet. It didn't end well." Gunther finished looking down.

"A comet?" questioned Bubblegum.

"Yeah, but enough about me. Come on, let's get you guys settled in to town. Meet the rest of the family." he said walking off while beating his drum.

"If this thing copies memories….girls, let's follow." spoke Marceline before floating after Gunther.

They moved through the labyrinth and approached a town. In said town had various people going around.

"Are these all people who wore the crown?" Shoko asked.

"Uh huh."

"Hey goontz!" greeted a boy with blonde hair with a green tunic and dark pants as he walked by.

"That's Sveinn. He only wore the crown once but that's all it takes. And the big guy over in red in white says he was the first 'Santa Claus'." Gunther finished making air quotes.

"What's that?" asked Shoko.

"He was a big deal back in my time." said Marceline. "One night a year he traveled around the world bringing toys to good little children. Ah, good times."

"That sounds very hard to keep track. The size of the planet is enormous, and all in one night? He must have had the technology to do so, very advanced technology at that." remarked Bubblegum.

Marceline gave a chuckle "I'll explain later."

"Oh and there's Professor." Gunther pointed to a man looking over the circuit's on the golden walls. "Professor Petrikov!"

Marceline gasped and the whole world seemed to slow down as the man turned to them. If her heart still worked it would have stopped at the first glance at his face and she covered her mouth. "S...S….Simon?"

"Marcy?" Simon breathed out before the two moved towards each other slowly before running. Simon nearly stumbled but kept on running until the two embraced each other in their arms.

Shoko and Bubblegum smiled at the scene while Marceline felt tears coming out of her eyes.

"Simon *hic* I missed you, so much." she sobbed.

"I missed you too Marceline." he smiled while patting her back with one hand and running his fingers through her hair with the other.

The others felt themselves getting a little emotional with Gunther grabbing a nearby leaf and used it to blow his nose.

"It's been so long since I last saw you, back then you were just a little girl, now look at you, all grown up. I always hoped to see you again." he said before losing his smile and pushed her off. "But not like this. What are you doing here?"

"Me and these two girls got in here with some machine." she replied pointing to Bubblegum and Shoko. "We want to help bring you back and break the crowns hold on you."

"Oh that's sweet of you Marcy. But you can't, the crowns magic is the only thing keeping me alive at this point." he said before he started pacing "Without it time would catch up with me and I'd wither away to dust."

"B-But there is a way! I mean, Shoko over there got her mind transferred into a body made of gum and she's been around for decades since then." Marceline said who looked to the princess "You can do that, right PB?"

"On a rapidly degenerating brain? I...I'm not entirely sure." she remarked looking away with Marceline feeling her hope diminish. "With Shoko she was dying of natural old age, but if I tried it with this with simon as he ages rapidly, I might not get all of it.."

"Hey I know this might sound crazy, and totally out there, but what if...we swap out the IK for Simon hear? You know put the crazy one in here and put the smart guy in his place."

"Hmmm...You know...that might just work, in theory." Simon said.

"PB, you gonna be able to do that?" whispered Shoko.

"Maybe, if I understood this circuitry." she said.

"I've been studying the crowns workings since I arrived." Simon said. "I can lend a hand in helping you understand this crown inside and out."

"Thanks...Simon." she said to him.

"Gunther can you keep an eye on the town. If anything starts going wonky someone needs to reassure them everything will be fine. The last thing we need is everyone panicking."

"Can do professor." he saluted and ran off drumming.

The girls walked off with Simon leading the way. "So Marcy, how have you been?" he asked. "Are you seeing anyone?"

"You haven't seen me since I was a kid and that's the first thing you ask?"

"Well it's just… I mean obviously the years have been kind to you. So I can't help but wonder if there's someone special in your life and they're treating you right, or if I have to punch them in the face."

She smiled. "No need, my old boyfriend already got his. I dumped that jerk when he sold Hambo off to a witch for some stupid wand."

"Ugh, the nerve." scowled Simon.

"I know right? Since then I've sworn of men for good."

"Wait, you've become a lesbian?"

"Kinda." she shrugged. "Is that a problem?"

"Why no, it's just...well, back in the day before I met you I never quite met or talked to one. Usually it was rare and odd to see that, but I didn't really see it as a problem."

"It's pretty much the same as a relationship between a man and a woman."

"Oh I'm well aware of that, so I have no problem with you being that way. You're a grown woman, and the fact you made it this far shows you know what you're doing, so who am I to judge or say otherwise? But...uh, there is something that's been gnawing at me. How are you floating like that?" he asked seeing as how her feet didn't touch the ground.

"Oh! Right. Well….um, it's kind of a funny story." she chuckled and scratched her head. "See I spent a little time hunting down vampires and ganking the powers."

"Woah hold up," Shoko cut in. "You're _that_ Marceline? Dude! You were my idol!"

"Heh, gee thanks, didn't know I had a fan club." she chuckled.

"Well not anymore, but how did you become the vampire queen if you hunted them?"

"A lucky bite from the former king of vamps." she answered softly rubbing the bite marks on her neck.

"You mean you went out and killed vampires, got bitten by the king, and now became the queen?" summarized Bonnie.

"That's the gist of it, pretty lousy life huh? But it was worth it to save the last of the humans."

"Wow….I….don't know what to say." spoke Simon.

"How much longer until we get to where we're going?" wondered Shoko.

"Oh! Well it should be coming up just about...now." he said before they arrived at a cave in a large red crystal.

"Wow, that gem is enormous." spoke Bubblegum.

"This way." Simon said leading them in. Inside the cave was some kind of round altar with markings. "Here we are. Time to get started."

"What is this place?" questioned Bonnie.

"Well every now and then some donk brain would put on the the crown and abuse its power. Like Jack Frost or the abominable snowman. This is where we send those people to be erased. It's like the trash bin on a computer."

"Ok, now that's dark." remarked Shoko bluntly.

"But thanks to my research I believe it can be repurposed to swap out the Ice King and replace him with the digital AI you see before you."

"Well then what are we waiting for? Let's do it." spoke Marceline.

"There's just one problem. The crown needs to be on the Ice King when I make the transfer. Once I jump in, if there's nothing to swap into, I could be purged from the system entirely."

"Then we gotta leave and make sure he gets it, and make sure we don't walk in on him and those robots….you know." spoke Shoko with a shudder.

"Robots?" Simon questioned.

"Don't ask, trust me." Marceline warned. "Just get to work."

"Right, he said before walking over to ththe alter and started sliding panels around.

"Ok, well where's the exit to this place?" wondered Shoko.

"Just do what I do." spoke PB. "VR off!" she spoke before she disappeared.

"Uh, VR off!" Shoko repeated before she too disappeared.

Marceline on the other hand simply looked over to Simon and floated over.

"Aren't you going with them Marcy?" simon asked.

"I finally get to see you after all this time and you're already eager to get rid off me? Oh Simon that hurts." she teased with a dramatic pose.

He chuckled which she mirrored.

"If this doesn't work I want to spend as much time with you as I can."

"Well then, I see no reason to stop you, even if I tried you'd stick with your guns, am I right?"

"Straight up." she said. "So if this works, what exactly will you keep from the Ice King?"

"Well his longevity obviously, along with his power to manipulate and generate ice, but should I keep the white hair and go with the Silver Fox look? I always thought it made me seem wiser."

Marceline chuckled and nudged his arm. "Easy there, I don't need you trying to hit on the other girls."

"Hmhmhm… oh how I missed that wit of yours." he said ruffling her hair. "I hope I haven't caused you too much grief."

"You? None. The Ice King? Different story." she replied. "I've been playing nursemaid since I became a vampire and took the crown from him and hid it so he wouldn't use it again. That was forever ago."

"Ah so that's why the firewalls went down for so long. That explains why you and your little friends could get in here."

"Yeah, but let's just say you don't wanna know HOW we got him to give it up." she remarked.

"No, I probably don't." he said before letting out a sigh. "Marcy...you do realize there's a chance this might fail right?"

She nodded without saying a word.

"How fast can you get to the Ice King?" he asked.

"Two maybe three minutes if I fly at top speed."

"Two is good." he said and walked up to her before giving her another hug. "Good luck Marcy. Remember, if we mistime this-"

"We won't, two minutes. I can make that." she assured.

He nodded to her before he let go and stood on the altar as it opened.

"I'll see you on the outside Simon." she sniffled as her eyes watered. "VR off!" she called out before returning to the real world. She took off the helmet and wiped her eyes.

"Marceline is everything okay?" Shoko asked standing next to PB.

"Yeah, I'll be ok." she nodded her head. "Come on, we gotta hurry." she morphed her hand into a large fist before smashing the glass tube and took the crown from inside.

"Okay now that was just unnecessary." gripped Bonnie

"Let's just be careful when we get there, I don't need nightmares." shuddered Shoko.

Marceline formed a pair of wings and grew into a giant bat creature. "Grab on or get left behind."

Both of them grabbed onto her back before crying out when she shot up into the air and smashed through the ceiling much to Bonnies dismay.

"Aw come on!"

"Relax, we'll get it fixed when we're done." Shoko waved off.

Back in the Crown, Simon was steadily counting down the seconds. It was fortunate that he was wearing a watch when he first wore the the crown. "Come on Simon, just do what you can and don't let the pressure get to you."

"Professor!" Gunther called running in.

"Not now Gunther, I need to stay focused on the matter at hand." he stated.

"So that's it? You're just gonna leave us without even saying goodbye?"

"Well...it's not like I forgot or anything, it's just my window of opportunity is very limited." he said before sighing. "But thinking about it, it does seem selfish. Just like that cold winter day I left Marceline. Every time she called out my name was like a knife through my heart."

"Well….do you at least have time to hear me out?"

"...I can spare a minute, but once the crown is on the Ice King's head the firewalls will begin to reboot and who knows how long it will take for them to go back down."

He sighed and took a deep breath. "Simon, I just wanna say, it's not gonna be the same without you here. Everyone else here is cool, but you always stayed smart and nice and I think we all enjoyed that. We'll try to put up with the Ice King as best we can."

"Thank you gunther….say goodbye to everyone for me and know that I'll miss all of you just as much." he smiled while feeling that one hit his heart.

Marceline arrived at the Ice King's Domicile where Shoko and Bonnie jumped down before the vampire queen returned to her normal form. They walked over to a closed door where they heard grunts and groans making them all shudder.

"Gather your nerves girls." Said Marceline taking a deep breath and yanked the door open. Their eyes widened as inside showed Ice King and the clones….in the middle of a game twister.

"Almost...almost...got it!" the Ice King whooped after placing a foot on a blue spot. "Ha ha! That's what I'm sayin' baby! Who's your daddy!"

"Twister?" Marceline questioned before smiling. "Oh that's much less disgusting."

"Huh? Oh hey girls." he waved with the clones doing the same as best as they could. "Wanna join in? It's tons of fun."

"No time, here, put the crown on."

"Uh, I would, but as you can see I'm a little _tied up_ at the moment." he said before tittering at the joke.

"Oh for the love of-" Marceline raved before moving to place the crown on his head. "Just give it a sec."

"Say wha-AAAAAAAHHHH!" the crown suddenly sparked as the Ice King sprung up sending the clones flying while he was babbling gibberish.

"We might wanna step back." spoke Shoko before the the man was in his stomach and bent his legs back to pull at the edges of his mouth and gnashed his teeth. "He looks like a biter."

"Simon!" Marceline called out in panic as he start running around. "Did we put it on too early, or too late!? Oh Glob this was a terrible idea!"

Ice King let out a seal sound and clapped his hands like one before his pupils dilated and went completely still as the sparking stopped leaving only smoke billowing from the crown.

"Uh oh. I think we scrambled his egghead." Shoko remarked.

"Simon? Simon?" spoke Marceline moving over and lightly slapping the cheeks with concern and fear. "No….Simon."

He shook his head before blinking and looked around. "Wow, everything's so...blurry." he said as his beard hair and nose began to shrink. "Marceline are you there?"

"Simon!" she cried out before hugging him tightly making him groan while she started shedding tears of joy.

"Marcy, hold on, take me to where I keep my all my old things."

She nodded before taking his hand and lead him down into the bowels of the domicile and into a room full of random junk before he started digging.

"Come on, where is it? Even in my deep state of madness my other self subconsciously must have known to keep- ah ha!" he said before putting on a pair of glasses. "Hello."

"How do you feel?" she asked before he turned to her.

"Much better, now that I can see what a beautiful young lady you've become." he smiled earning a blush from her before looking down at his skin. "Woah! I'm definitely in need of a tan, that's for sure."

Marceline chuckled at this. "I see you kept the white hair."

"Hey, when you find a look that works-"

"Excuse me, Simon." spoke Bubblegum cutting him off. "I hate to spoil this moment, I really do, but perhaps we could get on the topic of your research?"

"Oh yes of course. Right this way." he said grabbing a nearby writing desk and flung it out of the way exposing a secret tunnel. "Just mind your step, it can get a little dark."

They followed him down the tunnel before arriving at a large room.

"Woah, to think I lived here for centuries and never even knew this room was here." Marceline remarked. "I could have turned it into a killer recording studio."

"It's a good thing you didn't otherwise I might have thrown out my books." he said pointing to the bookshelf.

"Mind if i looked them over." asked Bonnie?

"Be my guest always happy to help aid the pursuit of scientific knowledge."

"Wait, you record stuff?" Shoko asked Marceline.

"Well, when I wasn't tending to the Ice king's every whim." she smiled. "I could rock a bass like no one else."

"Vampire hunter and a rocker, you're so cool." smiled Shoko with awe in her eyes.

"Damn straight. Maybe you can join me sometime."

"I'd like that, I really would."


End file.
